The Dango Gesture
by lovesnaruto7
Summary: When you take an emotionally unstable Uchiha an abandoned and alone pink-haired girl and throw in Dango. This story is about two people, who're lost in their world and seek to find the end to their paths. Alone. There is Darkness. Together. There is Light. If you step into the light to quickly however, your eyes begin to burn. ItaSaku Fic. Sakura Development. Cringy Worthy.
1. Chapter 1: Throw Away Sadness

Chapter 1- Throw Away Sadness

Sakura's Pov

 _My chance!_

Falling, the whooshing of air around her as her hair whipped wildly around her. It came back and thrashed at her closed eyelids.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto.

"Sakura!" Sasuke.

 _Bastards._

 _You don't care._

 _So stop pretending you do._

Her body flipped around, she knew that the ground was coming closer.

You know she almost expected Kakashi-Sensei to come out of nowhere, and save her.

But he wouldn't because he wasn't here. That's why she choose this mission in particular for her plan. It was foolproof. Nothing would go wrong because she'd spent weeks planning it. Nothing would stop her. She'd throw away her old life, and she'd start new. Without the expectation of being the same as her teammates holding her back.

A quick hand sign of a jutsu that she'd practiced for this moment later, and a form, her exact replica was kicked down towards the rocks, where as she, flew into the ice covered river.

She heard the smash of fake bones on sharp rocks just as she heard the smash of ice. She knew that the river was beginning to thaw. That's why she had not only picked the mission because tracking something in the Land of Frost was extremely hard, but also because she could leave those two liars so much easier in this country.

She couldn't go up for breath now, so she continued to swim. Opening her eyes, Sakura did a jutsu that Sasuke has taught the team a while back. A simple jutsu that would continue to circulate blood even when the user was cold. It would keep her from freezing, for now anyway.

 **We need to hurry!**

 _I couldn't agree more!_

Swimming until she absolutely had to get a breath, Sakura didn't feel any different. From the distance, she could hear Naruto's anguished cries, nothing from Sasuke, but that was to be expected, the emotionless prick.

She couldn't get out of the river yet, she knew that if they were to send a team of ANBU to find her, she'd be screwed. She took into account the fact that they'd most likely bring ninja dogs as well. That wouldn't be too good, they'd have her tracked down within a couple hours no doubt.

Sakura knew that she wouldn't even able to keep up the simple body warming jutsu for long. The last time that she'd used this jutsu was when it was first taught to her and Naruto. That had been months ago, and even then, Sakura could only keep it up for about two hours before she felt completely drained. Although her reserves had grown a considerable amount, that would make for no difference in the end. She needed chakra, she would have to conserve hers if she was going to do this right.

 _Damn_ , she thought as she neared the waterfall that she'd made sure was on the map.

Sakura quickly braced herself, this might hurt. It was the same sensation as it always was. You fall, your stomach feels like it's going up, you clench your throat to keep from vomiting. The same old Hara. Thankfully the jutsu kept her from feeling much like it scorched her nerves, she was unbelievably happy for that. She swam up to the surface, feeling for the bank so that she could start running. She needed to be two steps ahead of everyone else, or, she thought back to her very long list of worst case scenarios, something bad would most certainly happen.

Wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand, Sakura looked at her surroundings. Only hearing the subtle shift in the leaves that were almost non-existent.

 _Nothing..._

 _Good..._

Throwing herself up onto a solid surface, Sakura looked up to find it beginning to snow.

 _Perfect_ , she thought.

She really had planned this just right. Everything was going according to plan. The storm would continue to rage for a good couple days. No one would find her now. Smirking Sakura threw on a cloak that had been concealed in a plastic package, in her backpack, over her shoulders. Pulling the hood down to hide her very noticeable hair, Sakura began to walk.

Into the forest went a new person. No longer was she Sakura, the weak link of team 7. No longer was she poor, pathetic, little Sakura. She was anew person who would make people watch her back now.

She didn't know that there were two more people in this forest either, heading to a nearby town, her exact destination. They adorned Black Cloaks with the signature Red Cloud emblemed on them.

 _Cozy..._

Was her only thought as she stepped into her first stop. A cute quaint little town, not yet affected by the storm.

She knew that it was unwise to make a stop this early on in her journey, but she needed rest. And food, and if she was being honest, a nice long hot shower.

Taking her time when walking through this cute town, Sakura noticed a variety of shops, mostly clothing stores. They all had beautiful exterior designs.

While Sakura marveled at the many pretty things in windows. Two people walked right behind her. Straw hats pulled over their faces. One was very tall. The other was considerably smaller than the former, but they always said that big surprises come in small packages.

 **No more window shopping! We need to find a hotel!**

 _Argh! I know!_

Shaking her head, Sakura quickly ran down the street, dodging multiple people Sakura couldn't help but accidentally bump into someone.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" She quickly excused herself. The person that she bumped into just nodded and continued to walk. Sakura decided that she need to keep going before the storm reached the little town, but something caught her eye.

No, it wasn't something in a window, it was something on the ground. It was a beautifully crafted kunai. The blade was sharpened to perfection. The wrappings around the hilt were a dark red. Sakura quickly bent down to pick it up.

 _Oh wow...so beautiful..._

Sakura looked closely at the blade, she could make out something, but it was far too dim out here for her to see anything. So she decided to check it out when she got to her hotel room.

Swiveling her head from left to right, Sakura quickly found a little inn that was sure to hold her for the night.

Pushing past people Sakura made her way to the rotating doors. This place seemed pretty high class. She looked around and quickly found the name.

The Palace

 _What a lovely name_! She thought.

The place was decked out in everything that a simple genin like herself could only imagine. All of it must've cost so much money!

Her stomach dropped when she saw the long line. It'd be a miracle if she ended up staying in a room tonight. She wouldn't get her hopes up that's for damn sure.

Making her way to the back of the line, Sakura waited. The people in front of her seemed to be calm. Well one of them did.

"Ugh, this stupid ass line isn't moving! Itachi isn't there another inn around here?!" The tall, what she assumed was a man, either that of a very masculine woman said.

"Hn." Well, that was brief.

Remembering the kunai, Sakura quickly took it out of her pocket, to see what was engraved on it.

In beautiful cursive hand writing was two simple letters, initials.

 _I.U._

"Hmm, I wonder who this belongs to?" She mumbled on to herself, but the shinobi enhanced hearing of the men in front of her heard her quiet rambling.

Looking over their shoulders' one of the men's eyes widened underneath his straw hat, the other just looked on confused.

"I can help whoever's next!" Yelled a woman who was clearly hinting at the men in front of Sakura. Sakura looked up just as the two men looked away. The line had grown smaller while Sakura was inspecting the weapon. There were only two people in front of the people who were in front of her herself. So the line automatically split in two.

"How many?" The woman asked giving the two, obviously men now, suggestive winks and glances.

"Two." The shorter of the men responded curtly.

The woman smirked at him, finding his voice very appealing.

"How long will you be staying?" She pushed her chest out, making it seem bigger.

 _I am all at once disgusted by this woman and jealous of her. Disgusted because she's acting like a common hoe, and jealous because her chest is so big._

The man paused before responding. "Two days." The woman was practically beaming by now.

"Well if that's the case, then perhaps I could visit you and~" She was getting closer to the shorter man.

He spoke quickly and clearly. "I'm afraid that will not be necessary." Clearly, he was being polite.

The woman's face fell before she recomposed herself. Quickly becoming flirty yet once again. She told them the price of their room and the two men walked away. Sakura wanted to laugh at the woman, but didn't, after all, she needed a place to stay too!

Stepping up, Sakura couldn't be happier that this woman seemed to be on cloud nine. So happy she barely paid attention to Sakura, despite just being rejected she seemed to be pretty happy.

"How long?" The girl asked

"Um..two days." Sakura bowed her head, she hated talking to people in public, especially in front of people that she didn't know.

After giving up a little cash in comparison to what she had on her, Sakura was given her key, she looked down at the number.

 _23_

Seemed easy enough to find. You'd think, right? But nooooooo! Sakura has to go and get herself lost!

 _Am I on the third or second floor?_

Seeing someone who appeared to be coming right at her Sakura quickly spoke.

"E-excuse me?" The person slowed to a halt and Sakura recognized him as the man who was being hit on at the front counter.

"Hn?" He seemed to acknowledge her a little bit so Sakura continued speaking.

"Do you know what floor we are on?" She laughed sheepishly as he continued to stare at her, probably thinking that she was mentally handicapped.

At this point Sakura wasn't even sure he was going to respond, she contemplated turning around and walking away, but he decided to speak.

"The third floor." It was short but it gave her the information she needed.

Her face brightened.

"Oh, thank you. I seem to get lost no matter where I go! Heh heh, thank you again." Sakura bowed quickly and went to head for the stairs behind him.

That was before her wrist was caught.

She looked at the man in suspicion and curiosity, wondering in what world you could just grab a stranger for absolutely no reason.

"That kunai, the one you were holding in the lobby, where did you get it?" She still couldn't see his face, that fact alone kinda irritated her, he was down at her eye level now.

Deciding that it would do her no harm, to be honest, Sakura told him just that. "I found it on the street, it has initials engraved in it." She wasn't lying, perhaps he could tell because he released her almost immediately.

"I'm sorry to inconvenience you, but that kunai belongs to me, I must've dropped it earlier." He put out his palm, expecting her to hand it over.

Sakura reached inside her pocket, pulling it out, it was almost in his palm before a thought struck her.

 _What if he's lying?_

Snatching her hand back, Sakura stared at him warily.

"If it's really yours," she took a deep breath, "then what're the initials on it?" He seemed surprised at her, not expecting her to take it back, to simply just give it to him.

He sighed before speaking. "The initials on it are 'I.U.' In cursive handwriting, my handwriting." He spoke softly.

Offering his hand again, she gently placed the object into his awaiting palm, soft fingers brushing over calloused skin, before pulling away.

"I'm sorry. I-I just didn't know if it was really yours, or if you were lying, I apologize." She was albeit ashamed for accusing someone she didn't even know.

Her head hanging Sakura didn't feel the oncoming fingers until they had poked her right the forehead, causing her head to snap back.

"Eh-!" She quickly grabbed her forehead. Looking up at him with a scowl, she saw him smirk.

"Come." He said and began to walk towards the stairs.

She only continued to look at him with a scowl, that hurt ya know!

 _Oh god dammit I'm starting to sound like_ _Naruto!_

He turned around to look at her.

"I shall treat you to a plate of dango, for your honesty." He reached out his hand and clasped it onto her wrist, pulling her with him.

His hand is so...

...Masculine, Calloused, and dare I say it?

...Comforting?

 **Nah!**

 _Nah!_

Sitting in the dining area Sakura felt her mouth water. Oh, gods, the food smelt delicious! She had yet to remove her hood, figuring that if anyone from Konoha were to come here, they would most certainly ask about some girl with pink hair, then she'd be fucked.

Her temporary companion seemed to see her hesitance when it came to removing her hood.

"Why not just take it off?" He questioned evenly.

Surprised Sakura looked back at him. She idly wondered why he hadn't taken off his hat yet either.

"I could ask you the same thing." She gave him a smug look, feeling like she had won an invisible competition.

"If I do, my identity will be revealed. Can you promise me, that if you see me, you will not report me?" He was interrogating her in a way.

Smiling Sakura thanked the man who was their waiter, he had just delivered their dango and tea. She took her cup and took a sip.

"It is foolish to fear what we have yet to know and see." She said simply watching him take a sip as she spoke, and then watching him lose his composure and spit it everywhere.

Coughing and hacking to get what was left out of his throat, he gingerly took her own tea that she'd offered and taken a drink.

"What did you just say? Just then, where did you hear that?" He spoke impatiently, almost desperately.

"Oh, I said 'It is foolish to fear what we have yet to know and see.' My father said that to me a long time ago." She looked at him curiously. "Why?"

"Well, believe it or not, that is something that I say quite often." He reached up for his hat, and as he slid it off, Sakura was almost left breathless.

He was simply stunning, long black hair pulled into a loose ponytail, long stress marks marring his emotionless features, and coal, almost grey eyes looked at her curiously.

She supposed that this was her turn. She was happy that she deposited her headband in her backpack earlier, even if she no longer wanted to be affiliated with Konoha, she still loved that village very much. She couldn't bear the thought of putting her forever home in danger, never.

She felt her bangs shadow her eyes, without her forehead protector holding her hair back Sakura looked much like she did before she met Ino.

Grabbing the edges of her hood Sakura allowed the thin fabric to fall away. Revealing her to all those around her.

His eyes had widened before they returned to their normal, unfeeling size.

"I know right? Pink hair isn't exactly the best thing to have when you're hiding!" She laughed, but then realized that she'd said far too much.

Taking a stick of Dango Sakura quickly are the delectable sticky treat.

"What exactly are you hiding from?" He sounded suspicious.

She sighed. "From everything..."

He nodded, he didn't prod or poke, or nag at her to tell him. He just left it. And for that, Sakura was grateful.

She hummed a little as she took in the smiling people around her, they didn't even cast her a glance. Sakura felt more normal than she had in a while.

"So," Sakura quickly swallowed the last ball of Dango on her stick. "What may I call you? I know your initials, but I don't know..." wait, what did the man in the lobby call him?

Iracha?

Ituchy?

Itachi? That's it!

"No! Wait! I do know your name! It's Itachi isn't it?" She looked at him happily, looking like she just solved the puzzle of the century.

He smirked at her happy demeanor. "Yes, that is my name. What might yours be?" She threw her hands up in happiness from finding out what his name was, but quickly looked dumbfounded at the second part of his sentence.

"My name?" He nodded patiently, waiting for her answer.

"Oh, well, I know that this might sound a little ironic, considering my hair color and all, but my name is Sakura." She smiled at him, closing her eyes as she did so.

When she opened her eyes again he was either smirking broadly or was smiling faintly, his eyes were crinkled ever-so-slightly, looking soft.

Reaching for the last stick of Dango, Itachi, as she had now met, spoke. "Well," taking one of the sweet treats for himself he left the other two on the stick, "it's very nice to meet you Sakura-San..." he said her name slowly as if testing its effects on her. On the outside she was fine, still smiling. On the inside though, inner was screaming on pure joy at the fluttery feeling that traveled down Sakura's spine.

"Yes, it's very nice to meet you too..." she was confused about what to call him, but since he'd been so nice she figured she could be nice too. "Itachi-Kun!" She smiled at his seemingly confused features, but her smile grew tenfold when he handed her the other two dango on the stick.

"Ah arigato!" She quickly ate them, not noticing her, as she personally claimed him, friend smile ever so slightly at her antics.

He had even offered to take her back to her room.

 _His parents most certainly taught him to be a gentleman!_

It turns out, Sakura's room was right next to his, he was in room 22, his partner was in 21. And she was in room 23. How convenient.

Thinking of a quick joke Sakura turned to the man on her right.

"You know, I wouldn't be surprised if you had seals on every entryway in your room if I was you I'd be afraid of getting raped!" She laughed thinking back to the obviously horny attendant at the front desk.

He seemed to remember as well, for his nose crinkled up in disgust. She laughed at his expense, his face was just too funny!

"Yes and if I were you I'd be afraid of the monster under my bed, and in my closet." He retorted evenly.

She gasped and turned to him, mock hurt showing in her eyes as he smirked.

"How dare you! Well...if I was you I'd be afraid of..of...um..." she stared at the floor, trying to think of something.

He stopped along with her.

"Um...pickles!" She said the first thing that came to mind. Fucking brain.

Hearing something that was muffled Sakura looked up to find her new friend laughing at her.

"Hey! I said the first thing that came to mind! Don't judge me!" She yelled at him childishly.

"Too late." He said and continued to walk away from her. She quickly caught up with him, they stopped at her door.

She spun around to say goodbye to him. "Well, thank you for the Dango, it was delicious! I guess that I'll be seeing you!" She turned around but someone grabbed her shoulder and spun her back around.

"What color are your eyes?" He asked she had to wonder why he wanted to know but didn't voice it out loud.

Turns out her bangs had been blocking him from seeing her eyes the whole night. She hadn't noticed.

Before she could speak, he had moved her bangs out of her face, exposing their beautiful vibrant green color to him.

"Hm...close your eyes." He said simply.

Sakura blushed dark crimson, and she was suddenly very happy for the dark hallway.

Closing her eyes as he had instructed, her imagination ran wild at the many different things that he could do to her, while her eyes were closed.

Feeling something hold her hair back, just like when she was a child, Sakura opened her eyes. Feeling the top of her head, she found a silky fabric holding her hair back. He had tied it just like she usually did.

"There, that's much better. Now your hair won't get in your face." He smirked at her again. Sakura didn't notice that her heart skipped a beat, either that or she just choose to ignore it, probably the latter.

"And," he brought his index and middle finger up to poke her in the forehead, "it's much easier to do that." Sakura smiled a dazzling smile at him. Maybe she'd meet nice people like him on her journey, she sure hoped so.

"Arigato Itachi-Kun!" She was so overcome with happiness that she threw her arms around his waist and hugged him, oh so hesitantly did his hands come to rest at the small of her back, barely brushing against her, yet she still felt the small amount of warmth through her clothing.

Sakura remembered that her mother had taught her to stay away from strangers, but Itachi-Kun wasn't a stranger anymore, he was her friend.

Right?

Of course!

"Until we meet again Sakura, I hope that you grow strong, I wish you the best of luck..." he stared down at her, his eyes locking onto her own, before picking her up bridal style, she gasped as he did so, taken by surprise she quickly wrapped her arms around his neck, he body flickered into her room, and gently deposited her on her bed, he took her backpack away from her and dropped it on the floor, he then poked her on her forehead, hesitant as he pulled his fingers away, not before smirking, did he then leave.

She effectively turned into a pile of goo on her bed.

 _ **You won't see him again**_ A little nagging voice said to her, it wasn't inner, it was something meaner.

Sakura knew, as she fell asleep, that what the voice said was true.

She'd probably never see him again.

Oh, how wrong she was...

Leaving quickly, Itachi body flickered back into his room. Looking around, he found nothing special, just as always.

He sat down on the edge of his bed, throwing his cloak over the chair by the desk as he did so.

Sighing Itachi flopped back onto his bed, sprawling his arms out above him, he stared at the blank white ceiling, wondering simply...

What. The. Fuck. Was. Wrong. With. Him?!

He had only ever treated his little brother in such a manner, and after the incident that destroyed his innocence, he no longer treated anyone in that way.

He had only met this girl today. He and she would most likely never meet ever again. Even if they were to meet again, the chance was very slim.

Yet he had been there, to reassure her, that they would, that they would meet yet once again.

How foolish of him.

He couldn't possibly hope to promise that girl that he'd ever see her again.

Yet a part of him, a part that he had ditched, unless he was on the battlefield, fighting for his life, spoke, that he would indeed meet that girl again.

 _Why do I even care?_ He thought.

 **Because you want to see her again...**

Sighing yet once again Itachi hefted his body up, now holding his head in his hands. Rubbing at his eyes, he removed his shirt. Walking around the side of the bed he threw away the blankets, climbing into bed, he enhanced his hearing with his chakra.

Sounds from the walls make their way into his hearing. He stretched it into the room adjacent to his own.

Hearing soft snores the next second relieved him. Although that girl was nice, you could never be too careful. She might've been an assassin, he very much severely doubted it, but you never know.

Falling into restless oblivion Itachi had to wonder.

 _Will we really meet again?_

 _And if so..._

 _Why do I care?_

 **Has been edited**

 **Will not be updated for a while, considering I already wrote the next chapter and I want to wait, also I need to get into the groove of again.**

 **Is an ItaSaku**

 **Will take time for their relationship to develop, unlike my other stories, which have been rushed into the relationship, this one will take time.**

 **I hope you enjoy The Dango Gesture...**

 **-lovesnaruto7**


	2. Chapter 2: Tipsy Reunion

**Heya, lovesnaruto7 here, I need to answer some questions though!**

 **Lonewolf1836- I appreciate your review, I like that you were honest. Yes I understand having more of a background with Sakura will be good, but I plan on working on the now, in the next chapter I will have more of a background for her don't worry. I made her meet Itachi early on so that people would definitely understand who the relationship in this story would be between. Thank you!**

 **tinysakura-You'll see! This chapter shows a bit of her improvement, further chapters will look into that more I promise!**

 **ilovetralala- Yes her reasons shall be further explained as we go. No, she won't go back to her village because things don't work like that. She left her village, she's not going** **back! I feel like Sakura would've had more potential if she didn't have the protection of her safe village, so here she is.**

One Year Later

Sakura's Pov

Land of Iron

Age: 14

One more!

A solid hit caused a small crack.

Another!

Another crack appeared, larger this time.

One last time!

The rock split into two, a rough jagged edge separating both parts.

"I did it! Yes!" Sakura jumped up happily before she recoiled in pain. Looking down at her thighs she remembered her closed chakra points. She'd closed them to increase her training on drawing chakra.

A Shinobi should be able to draw chakra from anywhere in their body, Sakura had closed the points on her legs to make her arms stronger. A lot of chakra flowed through the legs because they were needed for water and tree walking. The arms, most specifically Sakura's, didn't have a lot of practice on using chakra, so she'd taken it upon herself to increase that weakness.

Rubbing roughly at her legs Sakura huffed in annoyance, standing up she brushed off her behind and walked slowly over to her bag and water bottle. If she wanted to make good time she'd start moving now.

She needed to be at the next town over by dusk. Because she knew that she and her aching legs wanted to spend the night in a soft hotel bed.

As she reached her bag Sakura readied herself for a long two-hour jog or run. She didn't want to, but any form of training was an improvement.

She'd since left Sasuke and Naruto a year ago, today. She'd tried to take her mind off of it by stopping to train and let out her frustrations, but it was inevitable because here she was thinking about it yet once again.

She'd be lying if she said that she didn't miss their company, that was it though. She didn't miss Sasuke's comments, she didn't miss Naruto's annoying bickering, she didn't miss Kakashi's aloofness. She just wanted someone to talk to.

Stepping over a precariously large branch Sakura thought of people she'd kill to talk to.

Shikamaru wouldn't be that bad, although he wasn't much of a conversationalist.

Ino...no she'd just hit her or yell at her.

Chouji might share his chips with her, she highly doubted it though.

Neji...no that one was off of the list immediately.

Lee...no comment...

TenTen? She didn't really know the chick.

Hinata, maybe, but she didn't really know her either.

Kiba and Akamaru, those two were nice sure, but she had no doubt they'd just turn her in.

Shino, well she wasn't a huge fan of bugs...

Team Seven wasn't on the slate at all...

Maybe...Itachi?

He had talked to her all night that day, they'd gotten along quite well in Sakura's opinion. They'd shared dango, tea, jokes, he'd even walked her to her room.

Sighing Sakura looked up at the canopy of trees. After that day Sakura'd been peeking into each crowd looking for a head of black hair, but never finding the right one would suffice to dim her spirits considerably.

She'd left the Land of Snow not even a day after their encounter, she'd gone straight to Grass Country. Hoping to zigzag her way away from the ANBU she knew'd (might because they might have thought that she was dead, she didn't really know) be following her. Along the way she managed to pick up some helpful scent hiding techniques, those saved her ass a couple times.

Seeing the small trading village up ahead Sakura smiled slightly. She tended to stay away from larger villages because different Shinobi from different villages were always posted there. In smaller villages there was less of a chance to have a run in with them, that's why Sakura tended to stay away from them. But her new very temporary job was here, and she didn't want to disappoint early on.

Henging into a beautiful brown haired lady with a large bust,(it made her feel better about herself) Sakura jogged up to the village gates.

Itachi's Pov

Land of Iron

Small Trading Village

Age: 19

Holding the hair of his victim roughly Itachi brought the kunai to his neck, closing his eyes as he swiftly drew the blade across his throat.

Itachi had never been a fan of killing, he was a pacifist by all means. Even at a young age he only wanted peace. Killing had absolutely revolted him.

His father had insisted on him being a Shinobi, even if he himself didn't want to be because an Uchiha has standards to uphold.

Sighing he dropped the limp body, he'd let Kisame drain the body of chakra before he removed the head.

He hated doing that more than he did killing the actual person.

"Nice kill, too bad you found him before I did. I wouldn't have been so nice, probably would've tortured him first!" Kisame walked into the room leisurely, Sameheda swung over his shoulder, a little blood on it.

 _Disgusting..._

"Hn." He sidestepped allowing Sameheda enough room to be smashed into the body of their bounty, draining its chakra immediately, it purred loudly in pleasure.

Sighing Itachi withdrew the brown bag used for carrying heads, he had no idea why they called it that, that was just its name. The head carrier ugh...

Taking a kunai Itachi began to cut around the nameless man's neck, creating holes, then he pressed his foot into the dead mans back, pulling back on his hair Itachi almost cringed at the sound of breaking bone and flesh.

This is why he usually brought his tanto, but this time he didn't think that he'd need it.

He hated to admit it but he was wrong.

He could feel the blood splatter onto his open-toed Shinobi sandals, hitting his exposed couple of toes. Sighing he dropped the head into the bag, masking his disgust with annoyance.

Stepping out into the courtyard of the compound Itachi turned to Kisame, looking at all the bodies of the dead guards around him.

"Did you kill any women or children?" His anger was evident to his shark-looking partner.

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't.." he looked away nonchalantly, putting Sameheda back into his back.

"Did you? Or did you not?" Itachi stained his voice so much his chest constricted in pain.

"No, jeez I didn't god damn man! They're all still asleep!" A small hand came at him and slapped over his mouth.

"They won't be for much longer if you continue to speak so loudly." He told his partner quietly.

Itachi created the small hand sign for the body flicker that his cousin had taught him when he was younger, disappearing in a flick. He reappeared outside of their clients' headquarters.

Kisame would get them two rooms at the nearest hotel, while he wrapped up here.

Stepping around the corner Itachi thought back to when he'd asked about the women and children.

He had a soft spot for kids, Sasuke was a perfect example of this, they were just far too innocent, too naive for this world.

He hated what they became, but loved what they were.

Looking for the entrance Itachi saw a small figure exit.

A child...

A perfect example of how nasty their world truly was.

A child had just exited a place for bounty hunters looking for a good catch.

Going through the entrance, Itachi sighed. The small figure that Itachi had seen earlier removed their hood and released their genjutsu, sweating profusely, running a hand through their pink hair. Not even seeing the man they'd been silently looking for.

The hotel was decent enough.

Some lavish furniture here and there, nothing too exciting. He'd found Kisame at the bar, no surprise there. But this time instead of hauling him back to his respective room, he'd decided to join him.

He had so far been through two whole bottles of Sake. He felt a little woozy right now coming back from the bathroom, but he was sure he'd be able to drag Kisame and himself back to their rooms soon enough.

Stumbling through the doorway Itachi's eyes automatically scanned the room, finding an interesting spectacle in the far right corner he went closer to see what he could hear.

From what he could see two larger figures, men were crowding a smaller figure, a woman if he had to guess. He was by no means sexist, but from her, or what he suspected was a her, body frame, it had to be female.

"Hey there little lady, is that hair natural?" One man leaned closer, resting his elbow on the table, allowing Itachi to see the top of a pink head.

No way...

The man continued to speak as the head moved backward in what he asumed was disgust.

It can't be...

"Yes, it is, why?" She asked staring at anything but the man.

"Well, I was just wondering, if the curtains match the rug, ya know?" The man got far too close for Itachi's comfort. The comment didn't help to kill his anger.

Marching over he slammed a hand down on the man's shoulder, he hadn't noticed that his Sharingan had activated automatically due to his wild emotions.

The man whipped his head around so quickly Itachi swore he might have whiplash.

"I think it's time for you to leave." He squeezed his hand harder. "'Ya know'?" He glared at the man in unexplainable fury.

Both men gasped before quickly scrambling away in fear, legs shaking. He heard another gasp, it was from the small woman at the table.

Before he could even fully turn to look at her, two small petite arms had wound their way around his torso, and a head was buried into his lower chest.

"I told you, Itachi-Kun," she lifted her head to look at him, smiling brightly. "I knew I'd see you again." If possible her smile got brighter.

He himself thought that some god must have had mercy on him, taken all of the things that he's done as of late and given him a blessing from the bad omen that was his life.

He smirked faintly, putting a hand onto her head. "That's my line." He saw her give him a disapproving glance, and a frown appeared onto her face.

"Now, now Ita-Kun no one likes a liar, that was my line, I'm sure the writer will give you your own!" She squished his cheeks together, some part of him enjoyed the contact, another part, the part he suspected was a Shinobi, said to get her away, that she might be dangerous.

He knew better though, she wasn't an enemy, she was his...what the hell was she to him?

"How have you been Ita-Kun?" Where the hell did 'Ita-Kun' come from?

Ignoring it because he didn't NOT like the little nickname was enough for him, so he put his hand on the small of Sakura's back and led her to the bar where his partner was drinking away the night.

"I've been as well as I can be. How are you Sakura-San?" He'd be lying if he said that he wasn't happy because he was. He'd told this girl a year ago that they'd meet again, he himself hadn't believed his own words, and Itachi was no liar, so it appalled him when he saw the top of a pink head.

He felt a twinge when he said 'Sakura-San' it felt too formal, too unnecessary, but manners had been beaten into him long ago, and until he deemed it fit to call her otherwise, she would be 'Sakura-San'.

"Hey! Itachi! Finally back from takin' a piss I see!" His partner exclaimed jubilantly.

Itachi who was too tipsy so nod his head raised a hand in greeting. Despite Kisame's loud demeanor, and violent need to kill, he was a good person and often provided company when Itachi was feeling up for it.

"Hm? Who's the broad?" He squinted his eyes as if that would make him see better.

Itachi glared lightly as he led Sakura to the stool next to his.

"This, is Sakura, a...friend?...of mine." He still didn't know what to classify her as.

 _Acquaintance?_

 _No._

 _Stranger?_

 _Definitely not._

 _Friend?_

It didn't sound right, but his mind was too hazy to think of a better word.

Kisame gave him an incredulous look, but didn't say anything. Looking at the girl who stood next to him, Kisame waved slightly before returning to his Sake.

Itachi slid onto his own stool, relaxing into a slouching position once more. He looked over his shoulder at Sakura, who stood awkwardly off to the side, waiting for permission.

He waved her over and she hesitantly slipped into the stool next to him. Looking at the wood finish of the counter, then to the many bottles of alcohol lining the shelves.

Itachi not quite thinking clearly, asked the stupidest question he could possibly in that moment.

"You want something to drink?" He cast his gaze at the more colorful bottles lining the very top shelves.

She looked at him like he was insane. But a certain part of her wanted the beverage, thinking that somehow it might make her seem more mature. These were the thoughts that whispered nasty things in your ear, behind the scenes. Unknowingly she nodded her head and smiled, hoping that by the end of tonight he might see her in a new light.

He smirked and signaled the bartender over. Pointing at various things on the shelves. When her drink arrived, Sakura couldn't help but think of a rainbow.

Kami it had so many colors! It actually looked really good..

Sakura who wanted nothing more than to wet her parched throat, reaches for the drink and gulped it down.

It tasted like...well a multitude of fruit, that was for damn sure. She didn't even get to feel the dissolving pill at the back of her throat before she'd ordered another.

Ten more drinks for all three of them and they were laughing like hyenas. Every little thing seemed to be funny.

The bartender was clearly getting sick of them, by the annoyed glared and glances they quickly figured it out.

"Oi! Oi! We should go jump on the bed!" Kisame exclaimed happily.

Sakura and Itachi stared at him for a moment and then turned to each other slowly, then proceeded to laugh their asses off.

"Yeah, lets go jump on the bed!" Sakura said happily, getting up from the floor she stumbled towards the stairs.

She didn't make it halfway there before she was thrown over someone's shoulder.

"Ahh! Oh no! I'm being kidnapped!" She said in false drama.

"Yes by me, the evil villain Itachi! Kisame the idiot shall save you!" Itachi ran(more like stumbled) up the stairs, and around a corner. Kisame stumbled after them slowly. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Both of them were laughing by the time Itachi found a door, it happened to be a storage closet, Itachi took the opportunity to hide them away inside.

"He'll never find you now princess! You'll have to stay with me forever! Mwahahaha! I'm so evil!" Clearly alcohol was Itachi's weakness as of late, usually, he didn't have this much fun though.

"Yeah but you know," Sakura swayed slightly causing Itachi to grasp her arms to keep her from falling "I've always liked the bad-boy types more than goodie-two shoes losers." She hiccuped.

Itachi let a lazy smile develop on his features before speaking. "Is that so? I had no idea." He played with the tips of her hair as she placed her hands loosely over his shoulders.

"Hmm, yeah, there's just something so..arousing about something so bad. Something so naughty, the thing that's supposedly forbidden because it's so bad is just...spine shivering..." her breath was airy, and began to become pants.

 _Had something been put in her drink?_

 _Had that been why it was so colorful?_

 _An aphrodisiac perhaps?_

She rubbed her legs together tantalizingly, biting her lip as she allowed the new onslaught of sensations to invade her.

Itachi quickly stepped away, his alcohol-induced body was going to get the best of him, he knew it, yet he, the supposed genius had trapped them in a closet, with her blocking the door.

 _Oh shit_ , he thought.

"Ita-Kun..come here please." She did the motion for 'come here' with her finger, this was not supposed to go this way. This was wrong.

"Fuck..." he said lowly.

"Me..." Sakura was walking toward him on wobbly legs, reaching her hands out for his face.

 _Oh god no! Get away!_

"Sakura. Stop. Now." He backed away, the shelves hit into his kidneys painfully but he didn't even wince. He needed to escape.

Thinking that maybe he might be able to get around her, he quickly tried to sidestep her but ended up stumbling for the door, jiggling the knob until it came loose.

Sprinting down the hall(stumbling over his own feet) Itachi turned a corner and then another, hoping like hell that she wouldn't find him. Stopping to catch his breath he held onto his painfully beating heart, wishing he could forget.

Peeking around the corner Itachi didn't see Sakura, which confused him. Didn't she maybe try to follow him? Or at least leave the room?

Suspicious now, Itachi went back around the second corner that he'd turned. Looking he didn't see her again.

 _Where is she?_

With painfully slow steps Itachi went back to the hallway where he'd turned his first corner. Looking over it made him sick.

Sakura was in this hallway alright. The only problem was that the bartender from earlier was trying to get her clothes off.

The man was sucking on her neck painfully, or at least it looked painful to Itachi, his hands held her hips in place, all the while grinding his own against them.

To say that Itachi was mad was an understatement.

He was fucking pissed. His animosity for this strange man just went from zero to a fucking million. He wanted to kill that man, which was an odd thing for Itachi to want to do.

Storming down the hallway Itachi ripped the man off of her by his hair, threw him against the opposite wall, proceeded to kick the absolute shit out of him, then threw him on the ground and punched him until his knuckles bled.

"I am not finished with you yet, so I suggest that you get out of this town by dawn, or I'll kill you." He let the threat hang, in place of tending to Sakura.

He more or less crawled over to her, slumped against the wall breathing heavily.

"Mm, Itachi-Kun.." she threw her head back for some reason unbeknownst to Itachi, but he was in no position to question her actions, especially considering his own.

Standing up straight, now that all of the alcohol had successfully been drained from his system and he was officially sober, he reached down for Sakura.

For some reason, he hoped that she wouldn't bite him.

Putting one arm under her knees and the other behind her back he hefted her up and, not knowing what room was hers this time, took her to his own.

Twistingthe knob with his elbow until it opened was easy enough, he was grateful that he'd left the door unlocked, but he was also disappointed in himself, a Shinobi should never leave themselves unguarded.

Seeing the bed a decently clear amount allowed Itachi to put Sakura on the bed, rolling her on her side so that if she threw up she wouldn't choke.

Going back towards the door Itachi shut it quietly and turned on the lamp next to his bed. First things first, he needed to get her cleaned up, he could still see dried saliva on her neck and it disgusted him greatly.

Going into the bathroom he grabbed a face towel and turned the water to hot, running the small towel under the water quickly Itachi wrung it out before going back to his bed where Sakura was still laying.

Brushing stray hairs away from her neck Itachi put his hand behind her neck, and pressed the warm towel to the spots that, that sicko had touched.

 ** _Are you any better than him in the end?_**

 ** _You yourself knew that if you hadn't run from that room when you had, something would've occurred, something that you'd regret._**

 ** _Your thoughts might've not become reality, but you still had them._**

Itachi hadn't ever thought that he was insane, no. But lately, he was wondering if he should question that thought. This voice spoke of things that his brain almost immediately shut out. Like the fact that he'd thought himself better than that man because he hadn't acted on his thoughts, because they hadn't become actions. That they'd only stayed thoughts, but the voice was right. Had he stayed there in that room any longer, he would've done something he'd come to regret later.

Looking down at this innocent girl's face, Itachi couldn't help but feel nasty inside. He'd done much worse things in his day, his clans' murder was proof of that, but this, something so utterly insignificant made him want to die.

"I'm sorry Sakura...San.." he whispered gently.

Don't get attached to things...

It shall be the death of you...

They are weakness...

They are pain...

They are love...

But there is no place for love in the Shinobi world...

Laying her gently under the covers Itachi sat down on the couch letting his head rest on the back of it. Sighing he wiped cold sweat from his impossibly cold forehead.

 _We are the epitome of scum..._

 **Hey! It's me! Second chapter is finally up, this one took a lot from me actually. Usually, I don't write things that are realistic because I live in this world where I can write anything, and it doesn't matter if it's disgusting, I don't think that I got that until most recently. I always switch out ideas that make it seem more realistic for things that seem more practical, because it makes me feel better. I need to understand that the world we live in is pretty nasty, things like what happened in today's chapter happen all the time. Anyway, I have a question for everyone, I want to see if you can guess how old I am! Please do try hard! Also to Sempai the God, I'm happy you liked the first chapter and I hope that this doesn't ruffle your feathers because this chapter clearly isn't as pure as I would've liked it to be (; but don't worry Sakura won't remember anything, I won't say anything if you don't!**

 **-lovesnaruto7**


	3. Chapter 3: Nightmares Become Reality

**Ok so answers!**

 **TinySakura: No Sakura does not know who the Akatsuki are, she's trying to keep under the radar, so she doesn't need to be in all that, and the Akatsuki are just as of late making an impact.**

 **Can'tFigureOutAUsername94: Yes it will be M rated when she gets older but nothing like that will happen until she gets older.**

 **Enjoy Chapter Three! Also next update will be a little slow!**

March 26

Almost One Year After Last Encounter

Sakura's Pov

Land of Waterfalls

Sakura sighed as she walked up to the river. Dropping to her knees sent pain through her legs, but she was to tired to care. She quickly put her hands in the freezing water, ignoring the jolt the cold substance gave her.

Slurping on the water, she sighed satisfied that her throat no longer hurt. Falling to the ground also hurt, but her exhaustion made her less palpable to care really.

It was in the dead of night. She heard the faint chirping of crickets to her left, the sky was illuminated in the beauty of the world that no Shinobi or regular human could reach until death. The thought made Sakura feel strangely hollow inside.

She was tired. She was cold. She was hungry. At the moment all she wanted was to be in a warm bed, her stomach full, her exhaustion gone completely.

But such luxuries were for people who were 'alive', and that was something that Sakura was not. She was dead to the world, with the exception of a few people whom she'd come to trust but couldn't stay with, in fear of their safety.

Rolling over Sakura expected to see green grass, but she then realized that she wouldn't be able to see anything, the dark was something that Sakura didn't co-exist with as well as she wanted.

Sighing for about the thousandth time that day, Sakura barely made it to her knees, before wanting to collapse again.

Still the weak link?

The thought alone pissed her off. No, because she wasn't a link anymore. She wasn't apart of them anymore. She was no longer weak little Sakura. Useless, annoying, supportive Sakura.

Now thoroughly pissed, Sakura shot up to her feet, albeit a bit shakily but none the less she was on her feet and heading back to her make-shift camp for the night.

When she arrived, it appeared that nothing had been touched, but she knew better, her backpack, which had been securely sat up against the tree when she'd left, was tipped over.

 _Oh no..._

Walking over slowly, Sakura knew what to expect. Peering over the edge she found crumbs on the ground.

The only food that she'd had left was now sufficiently gone, and she was left hungry yet once again.

Sakura fell on her tailbone with a large sigh. Slumping against the tree Sakura felt a familiar lump in her throat, and a constricting pain in her chest.

Breathing deeply, Sakura began to shove the feeling down again, just as she'd been doing for two years now.

But the lump just wouldn't go away! She tried swallowing air to make it easier, but that only increased her pain. It soon became hard to breathe, causing her to pant in a way that made her whole body shake in tremors.

Not long after, Sakura felt her tears strewn down her face, her nose scrunched up as she tried to suppress the sob that she felt coming on, she brought her lips back as it escaped her throat.

She was tired! She was hungry! She was cold! She barely had enough money for food, let alone a hotel room to keep her warm! Her only good had just been eaten by a fucking animal! No good work was available! Who was she kidding!? She should've just stayed where she was safe, because all she felt right now was pain, utter gut-wrenching pain that she'd been suppressing for two fucking years!

She couldn't do this, she thought as she fell forward, curling into the fetal position. She could not do this! She was so stupid!

Thoughts came rushing back, hurting her already pulsing head.

" _Kakashi-Sensei! I finished the exercise! What's next?" Sakura asked._

 _"Actually Sakura that's all for today, I'm going to help Naruto and Sasuke, you can head home." Kakashi replied with a nonchalant wave her way._

 _"Sasuke-Kun! Do you want to train?!" Sakura squealed seeing her long-time crush again._

 _"No, why would I want to train with an annoyance like you? You're worse than Naruto..." Sasuke stalked off, hands shoved in his pockets, leaving a broken-hearted girl in his wake._

 _"Sakura-chan maybe you should just stay back here ok? Me and Sasuke-teme can take him, you stay here and out of the fight!" Naruto jumped away, out of her vision, leaving Sakura to feel useless yet once again._

 _Why?! Why!? WHY?!_

Sakura clutched her hair, feeling it strain on her scalp, she almost suspected that it would bleed if she weren't careful.

"I'm so weak..." Sakura muttered to herself, another scene passing into her vision.

" _Papa! Papa!" An eight-year-old Sakura ran around the corner just in time to meet her father at the door, throwing her arms around his leg. Her father rarely came home, he was ANBU after all, it made sense._

 _"My little blossom! There you are!" He picked her up and threw her in the air, catching her in his arms yet once again he began to tickle her._

 _When he stopped he set her on the floor, and ruffled her hair, kissing her forehead._

 _He then went to the kitchen to sneak up on his wife, circling his arms around her waist he proceeded to give her a chaste kiss on the mouth._

 _"Ewwww! Gross!" Sakura said, just before her father turned to her and gave chase._

 _"Aaaaaa! No you can't catch me!" Sakura ran into the living room just before she was scooped up and her and her dad went crashing onto the couch._

 _Her dad huffed as he sat back, giving her that knowing smile._

 _"Would you like to hear what I did at work today Sakura?" He saw her face light up immediately._

 _"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Please Papa!" She quickly say down beside her father and waited for him to start talking, he breathed deeply before exhaling causing the little girl to laugh._

 _"Well a couple of days ago, we got a new ANBU. He is very young-"_

 _"How young is he Papa?!" Sakura interrupted, her father was never specific enough._

 _"Hmm, well I'd say about thirteen years old, he is a prodigy, after all, everyone was scared of him for some reason. It's a shame that he couldn't have a normal childhood, really." Her father downcast his eyes and shook his head, the same had been made for Sakura's late uncle, he'd been so strong at such a young age, but he was gone now._

 _"What was his name Papa? Maybe I can be his friend!" Sakura had only ever wanted a reliable friend, but everyone always picked on her unfortunately._

 _"Uhhhhh.." her father was clearly having trouble remembering his name, he never was good with that kind of thing._

 _"I can't remember, I'm sorry blossom. I know that he is an Uchiha though." Her father patted her head apologetically, looking displeased._

 _"An Uchiha? Oh, it's okay Papa! Please continue!" Sakura was quick to brush off his mistakes always._

 _"Well I decided to make him feel welcome, so I went up to him and began to talk, and you know what he said?" He looked down at Sakura's expectant eyes._

 _"He said 'Are you not afraid?' I could only laugh. We are all friends in arms, remember that Sakura." He nodded his head down at her._

 _"I will Papa!" She nodded back excitedly._

 _"I told that boy 'It is foolish to fear what we have yet to know and see.' Do you know what that means Sakura?" Sakura promptly shook her head at that._

 _"It means, to face the unknown with an open heart, to always consider other people's perspective before your own, what it took, what it takes, and what it will take to get that far, never be swayed but what is unknown to you Sakura, promise me." He was completely serious, his brow furrowed in that way that demand her to say yes or face the consequences._

 _"I promise Papa! I promise..."_

The vision was gone.

Sakura stopped breathing for a moment. The boy her father was talking about...a prodigy he said...an Uchiha...and those words...

Sakura shot up. No, no, no, this wasn't right..the boy..who was it, her father had forgotten to tell her his name! All he told her was his last name! But all the Uchiha were gone...The words were ringing in her head like a mantra, she had taken her own father's words and had said them to Itachi.

 _"Well, believe it or not, that is something that I say quite often."_

Itachi...had he worked with her father?

Oh god, he knew her dad, that meant that he worked for Konoha at one point. But he couldn't have become an ANBU, if he wasn't a full-fledged Shinobi for that country, that was how it worked! So Itachi, was on a long mission...No she would've known, surely Konoha would've told him about a pink-haired missing-nin, that was...if they even knew that she was alive...so that could only mean that he was-

Fearing where her thoughts were going, Sakura shook her head roughly, crawling over to her sleeping bag, Sakura fell on top of it ungracefully, her face smashed into the side.

 _That could only mean that he's..._

 **A missing-nin from Konoha...**

Itachi's Pov

Land of Tea

Nearing Next Country-Land of Wheat(coincidence? I don't think so, lol)

Itachi was pretty damn close to murdering somebody. Today had been a day of just traveling, which by itself Itachi didn't mind. But there was the fact that his idiot partner wouldn't shut up. He insisted on talking the whole time, simply because he was bored.

He was not tired, in fact, he could go for maybe two more days before his chakra became threateningly low, he could not have that. But because he really wanted Kisame to shut up, he suggested that they stop for the night.

Kisame was all for the idea thank god.

They landed in a clearing just a little ways inside of the land of wheat, they most certainly wouldn't be found by any wandering Shinobi until tomorrow. Because they had just left the land of tea, and they were only just barely inside the new country's border, it made for pleasant hiding spot.

Anyone who had been tracking them from the Land of Tea would be cut short by this, seeing as the neighboring countries weren't on the best of terms as of late, it all worked in the Akatsuki members' favor.

"Kisame," Itachi ordered smoothly, "go get firewood, I'll scout the area." Itachi was a no-nonsense kind of guy, his partner knew this from experience, so he didn't question his authority, he only mumbled incoherent curses under his breath as he walked away.

Trees clouded his vision, making it almost entirely impossible to see in the dark for any human.

It's a good thing that Itachi was anything but.

Sharingan activating quicker than he could give the command, Itachi was almost thankful for the second nature.

His ruby red eyes looked out into the beyond quietly as he stayed still, the only sound in the clearing was the subtle shifting of the trees as the wind blew them silently.

He looked left. Nothing.

Right. Nothing.

Swiveling on his left foot he turned behind him. Nothing. Wait...a chakra signature, faint, but alive, asleep perhaps?

Now Itachi was never really someone who got involved in something that he didn't have to be involved in, when he was younger he avoided fighting, instead focusing on just disabling his opponents, without really hurting them. His father had stated that he truly was a kind and gentle child all along.

He now had a very hard time believing that. To other people he was a killer, a murder by all rights, a monster. If he was spotted, he knew that it'd be flee on sight, do not engage, just run.

The thought dimmed his spirit considerably, seeing as he'd had this conversation with himself a couple hundred times, but back to the situation at hand.

Slipping a hand to his Kunai Holster on his right leg Itachi drew out a special blade, one with his initials engraved into it, one that used to have a beautiful red silk ribbon attached to it, but the ribbon was in better hands now, or better hair now he supposed.

He vividly remembered their last encounter, as if it'd happened yesterday really. It's not like he wanted to remember it, in fact he knew that he'd be better off forgetting the whole ordeal, but unfortunately that was not the case.

Her pretty pink lips parted in needy gasps...

Her legs quivering in anticipation...

Her lust-filled eyes dragging slowly, almost painfully over every inch of his body...

 _No! Stop it you fool!_

His brain surged with the memory of her beckoning him over to her, that one finger moving in a gesture that would leave a dark impression on any man gone.

With the way Itachi's thoughts were right now, he'd say he was pretty much said man gone.

Shaking his head furiously Itachi leaped forward hiding in a bush, scanning the other small clearing Itachi pressed himself against the tree he was hiding behind, in order to get a better look at the lump laying in the field.

Even with his Sharingan, he couldn't seem to make out if the figure was male or female, the outline was crumpled in a fetal ball, and whoever it was couldn't be getting that great of sleep.

Deciding to test the waters, Itachi leaped forward, landing a couple feet away from the crumpled form.

He slowly made his way forward when he didn't notice any changes in the breathing pattern of the person. He was about three feet away by now, at that moment he decided that this was most possibly the most ethereal and beautiful sight that Kami-sama had ever graced him with.

The clouds had decided to disappear for a moment, letting the moon shine through, giving him view to a sick and mildly twisted beauty that lay on the ground not even three feet away from him.

He knew who it was. He just couldn't believe it. The same person that he'd just been thinking about. There she was, legs sprawled out against her sleeping bag, long milky toned legs contrasted beautifully with the dark undertone of her shorts. She turned out away from her pitiful position from before, throwing her arms out above her. Her shirt hiked up a little, revealing a smooth, slim stomach that was untouched by the disgusting hands of man.

Her hair was a little longer than the last time he'd seen her. It framed her face in a way that one may think her an angel if they didn't know her. Tear tracks went from her eyes all the way down to her chin. Her eyes were no long red or puffy, which Itachi was sure that they had been not very long ago.

His thoughts were in the wrong whenever he thought about her it seemed. He had hormones like any man yes, but the fact that he thought about this barely teen like this made him more disgusted with himself than usual.

Itachi neared her again, still unable to actually believe this, that she was here. She didn't exactly hold a special place in his life, other than the fact that she made him laugh, which that in itself was surprising.

He was right next to her now, his cloak and hat billowing in the wind silently his ruby eye trained on her alone.

He bent down to get a better look at her, to see if she was injured. Only he didn't notice the kunai in the female's hand until it was to late.

One second he was reaching out to her, the next he was on the ground, a kunai to his neck, and two slim legs straddling him, holding him to the forest floor with a power that could only be acquired through years of training.

"You! What do you think that you are doing!?" She screamed as she pressed the kunai closet to his flesh.

Surely she must've recognized him. His outfit was one that sent many people running, so he decided that he'd wait until it clicked. A small part of him was happy that his hat was still covering his face.

Another part of him was screaming at him in distaste. Why had he allowed her to do this? To be on top of him in a compromising position, one that could land him dead in a few seconds if he wasn't careful.

 **Because you hesitated...**

 **Because you let your guard down...**

 **Because you're weak...**

His brain clearly supported the voice in those answers. He himself refused to believe any of that nonsense. He hadn't even let his guard down around his own Kaa-San. As he'd been taught in ANBU. Never let your guard down, for your greatest enemy could be your best friend.

He looked up at her to see the wind blowing her hair in a beautiful way, going just beneath her eyes to accent their viridian green color.

"Answer me damnit! Did Konoha send you!? Or did that bastard Kine send you?! Answer me!" He knew that this probably wasn't the best time, but he never knew that the sweet girl that he'd met could be so aggressive.

He should probably speak before he got himself killed. Not that he'd let that happen. He could've flipped them over in the blink of an eye, he just decided not to.

"Well, I know no one by the name of 'Kine', no Konoha did not send me, and I think that I was watching you sleep." That should do it. She was bound to know who he was now, she had to remember for he'd only seen her last year, he'd left her in his bed he remembered vividly her cuddling with his pillow.

She gasped as her eyes became wide, her mouth parting in an 'O' shape. She immediately removed the kunai from his neck.

"I-Itachi!?" She removed herself from his person faster than he could blink, he'd even go as far as saying that she scrambled away. Like touching him would somehow hurt her.

"Took you long enough." He said flatly, removing his hat.

"I had no idea that it was you! I'm so sorry!" She clearly wasn't going to let this go, so he'd cut it for her.

"Before you continue to apologize for something that isn't your fault, I forgive you and I'm actually quite impressed. You managed to keep your breathing and heart rate steady, you even fooled my Sharingan." He let out a little laugh, finding it funny yet also found it disconcerting.

He looked up only to find her face in utter shock.

 _Why is she-oh shit...Sharingan..._

"You-you're Uchiha! No! That can't be! Sasuke is the only living Uchiha! But you have the Sharingan! Itachi why do you have the Sharingan?! I knew it...you're a missing-nin from Konoha aren't you?" Her voice was soft and broken as she bowed her head, unable to look into his mesmerizing eyes any longer.

How long had she known? Did she just decide not to tell him that she knew? No that wouldn't make any sense, she would've turned him in. She seemed sad at the revelation, like she didn't want to believe it.

Sighing Itachi made a grab for her limp hands, and she flinched at his touch. "Ah, I am an Uchiha. By blood yes. Sasuke is related to me. Yes I am a missing-nin to Konoha, but I would never do anything to harm my home, I love Konoha, and if I had a choice I would've never left." He looked at her dead on. He shouldn't be telling her this. He should've killed her the second that she'd said something. Yet he hadn't. So here he was, waiting for forgiveness for something that he had absolutely no control over.

"I'm not mad at you...if that's what you were wondering. I'm just...sad because I thought that I'd found someone who wasn't bad." She said quietly.

Itachi would be lying if he said that he wasn't the slightest bit offended. He himself knew that he'd done some terrible things in his life, but what Shinobi couldn't say that that hadn't? She'd have to learn that.

"Sakura when we first met, you said yourself that you were hiding from something. You are a Shinobi just as I am. I am hiding from Konoha, because I committed a crime. I don't know what you are hiding from, but being a Shinobi you know that everyone has their reasons for doing things. I became a missing ninja for the greater good of Konoha. Why are you hiding Sakura?" The question sounded innocent but it was anything but. He wanted to know whom she was hiding from, maybe perhaps he could help her.

She was silent until she lifted her head to stare at him, fresh tear tracks still clear on her face, eyes sparkling in the moonlight.

"From Kakashi-Sensei," did she mean Kakashi Hatake, his first ANBU Capitan? "From Naruto-Baka," the Nine-Tails brat? "From the Uchiha-Bastard that thinks he's better than everyone else! I hate them! All of them! I'm hiding from Konoha too!" She jumped up and jumped over for a bag leaning against a nearby tree. She dug around until she pulled a very familiar headband out. "Do you see this?!" Its clean beautiful metal plate glinted in the night. "I'm hiding from people that can kill me! I'm hiding from my father who's an ANBU operative, my mother who's an ex-ANBU, and a whole fucking village that thinks I'm dead!" She screamed at him, finally letting everything go.

She fell to the ground but Itachi was too quick, he caught her before she hit the ground. He hit the ground with a soft 'thump' holding this crying girl to his chest in a feeble attempt to console her.

What did he use to do with Sasuke? Jeez, it's been so long since he'd experienced long term physical contact. Thinking back Itachi did what he did for Sasuke.

"Shh, shh it's alright. It's ok, Sakura, I'm not mad at you, I promise..." he ran his fingers through silky hair and drew small circles on her back with his thumbs, he did this for about five minutes until she had no more strength in her to cry.

It was then that Itachi sensed them. All around the field, from every direction they were surrounded.

"Sakura be quiet." He said in her ear. She looked up at him confusedly, wondering why he'd told her to be quiet, but not questioning his authority.

Where was Kisame when you needed him. Then they all came out the whole field was overtaken by Sound-nin. That could only mean...

"Itachi-Kun so nice to see you again..." a voice that Itachi recognizes all too well appeared and Itachi was forced to look left only to find the Snake Sannin himself there.

Orochimaru

As if in instinct he pressed Sakura closer to him, trying to hide her from his view, he pressed her head against his chest securely, but he already knew that it was too late.

"Hm? And who might that be Itachi-Kun?" The Sannin's eyes trailed down to the girl that he held, and Itachi could only glare at the snake.

"Kukuku she sure does have some...exotic looking hair there doesn't she? But I actually have a surprise for you Itachi, I'm sure that you've been dying to see him because he has been ecstatic to see you!" Orochimaru stepped away a little to reveal an approaching figure, Itachi wanted nothing more than to kill the snake right then.

There stood his little brother, clad in the clothes that the snake had given him, the familiar purple sash tied against his waist.

"Sasuke." He said evenly, he felt the figure that he was holding flinch as he said the name. Watching his little brother's expression change from neutral to angry in under a second was insane, and Itachi knew that he'd never truly be able to grasp at the fact that Sasuke hated him with such malice.

"Itachi!" Sasuke screamed back, venom reaching his voice as his eyes turned red in their family's doujutsu.

A hand cut Sasuke off when he was about to charge at him, Orochimaru gave him a look and whispered something in his ear. Sasuke's eyes snapped back to them. When his eyes landed on what he was holding Itachi let out a tiny curse.

Sasuke's eyes went wide when he caught sight of pink hair, he couldn't believe it, she was dead, no she wasn't dead, she was alive she was right there.

In the arms of the man who murdered his clan...

"Sakura?"

 **Oooooooo! Cliffhanger! I'm so mean! But I've been typing this up for a while now, so don't be too mad! Thanks, now I'm going to go to my bed in which I will sleep for a solid ten hours, goodbye!**

 **-lovesnaruto7**


	4. Chapter 4: Stepping On Up

**Alright so you guys definitely did NOT like the cliffhanger, at all (; I think that my fav was from Shivii-Chan, I thought that it was funny, I apologize for how shity this chapter is, it's basically a filler, sorry!**

Sakura's Pov

Land of Wheat

Continue From Previous Chapter

Panic.

That was the only word to describe how she felt. Raw panic. He saw her. He knew that it was her. He knew that she was alive. Alive. Not dead.

 _Fuck me..._

She felt Itachi pull her closer as every figure drew closer. How could this be any worse? Oh wait! It can't! Sakura could only barely see a couple of Shinobi from how tightly she was pressed against Itachi. Was he trying to hide her? To protect her perhaps? Oh god she sure hoped so.

"Sakura?" He said her name again, confusion and hurt evident in his voice. Since when did Sasuke show so much emotion? She could only recall once, that had been to their first mission out of the village. He'd said something to Naruto, just before they thought him dead, the blonde had hugged him quiet intimately after that, calling his name again and again, like that would somehow bring him back to life.

If Sakura didn't know any better she'd say that they were gay for each other.

Had she been like her old self in anyway the thought would've been crushed before it even entered her mind, that much Sakura knew. She was silently proud of herself and how much she'd grown, physically and mentally.

"Is that you?" Sasuke could NOT be serious, this seemed so cliché. The boy finds out that his old friend is alive, then later the female finds out that he had feelings for her.

 **Ha! How funny would that be!?!**

 _Focus, god damnit!_

If it were possible Itachi pulled her closer, squishing her nose painfully against his chest. She almost wished that he'd let her breath, but she knew better. This plan was a failure before it was even formed. Her hair was far too noticeable, Sasuke knew that it was her, there was no hiding the fact.

Yet her instincts screamed 'Run! Get away! RUN!!' She needed to leave. She had to leave. She wasn't ready. She wasn't ready! He saw her. The supposed dead female member of his team! This was a fight of flight situation. Sakura needed to choose 'Flight' because 'Fight' most certainly wasn't an option!

She grasped Itachi's cloak and tugged hard, gaining a little of his attention away from the Shinobi who were coming precariously close to them.

His nudge was a way for her to know that he was listening, but even Sakura knew that he was a little angry at her for interrupting his train of thought.

"I need to get out of here..please.." She was begging, she hated begging. It was weak, and although Sakura had her fair share of weakness, this, in front of him, was not one of those times that she could forgive.

"No." Sakura's head snapped up at that. Had she been a lesser person she might've huffed, but her refusal to do so and their current situation told her that that probably wasn't the wisest thing to do.

"I need you here, you must help me fight. I trust that you've been training?" He wanted her help. HE, the almighty Itachi, wanted her here. To help him. To fight with him.

How could she say no? Sure Sasuke would be an issue, but she could just avoid him. And something, that something was the viscous way he'd said the older man's name earlier, told her that he was going to go after Itachi, before he even cared to glance her way. perhaps she was taking this to lightly? Oh yes, she definitely was, but everyone has ways of dealing with certain issues.

"On the count of three, jump back from me and lay flat on your back." He instructed quietly, the Shinobi were within ten feet now.

"One." He looked left.

"Two." He looked right.

"Three!" He stared at her head on and Sakura threw herself backwards.

Landing on the ground harshly she felt a large rock poke into her back. Then a fire jutsu shot out right above her.

The people that it was shot at avoid it, and Sakura decided to not let a beautiful technique go to waste.

"Water Style: Waterfinder Jutsu!" Sakura screamed, preforming the correct handseals before unleashing a large amount of water onto Itachi's fireball. The small splashes of water were shaped like small dragons. Creating a thick and heavy mist.

Now usually doing that technique was hard for Sakura, but now she was fighting gravity, causing it to be harder to push the jutsu out and towards everyone else.

She gasped and rolled at the left when she her footfalls. Perhaps Orochimaru's Shinobi weren't that great if they couldn't even learn how to run quietly. A large sword hit the place she was moments ago. It was then that she realized what a big mistake that she made. Not only had she put herself at a disadvantage, along with their enemy's, but how was she supposed to fight like this?! She had no special doujutsu like Itachi and Sasuke.

 _"If you think about what you don't have, Sakura-chan, then how will you know what you do have?"_

 **That's right, don't think about what you don't have, think about what you do have!**

As if instinct decided to make its entrance, chakra flowed easily over her fists, surging through them, giving her power she lacked seconds before.

She had this.

She had her Water Style.

She had her wit.

She had Itachi.

She'd be just fine.

And so she leaped into battle crushing the ground in front of her, killing five pathetic excuses for Shinobi instantly.

Itachi's Pov

The ground had shook violently for a couple of seconds, shocking Itachi briefly, before he regained his composure quite quickly. Although he'd said earlier that he was gentle, he'd have to hold off on that for a little, because the current situation held no room for gentleness.

He drew out his hidden tanto from his cloak, whirling on the heel of his left foot he decapitated one of Orochimaru's men. It was then that he little brother decided to make an untimely appearance.

"Itachi!!" He could practically feel the animosity directed towards him. Suddenly his brain gave him an image of the day that Sasuke was born. His father holding Sasuke up high claiming his name loudly.

 _"He shall be named Sasuke Uchiha!" His father smiled happily while his mother softly sighed. Itachi was left to stare at the little child in wonder._

He straightened up, all of the other rouges were gone, that meant that they had either retreated, or they were going after Orochimaru. He turned to face his little brother, his expression stoic as the day he murdered their clan.

"Sasuke." He replied easily. This seemed to only further anger the younger Uchiha, who at the moment had electricity tingling at his fingertips in pure rage.

"I'll kill you!! I hate you! ITACHI!!!" Sasuke gave a battle cry as he launched himself at Itachi.(A.N. Forgive me! I am NOT very good at fight scenes!)

His first reaction was to let Sasuke kill him. It always had been, because the sooner Sasuke killed him, the sooner he would be able to live in peace. He had always planned to die by Sasuke's hands, that was how it was meant to be.

Unfortunately he felt a little bit of his plan chip away as a picture of a pink haired girl smiling up at him, with beautiful viridian eyes looked at him in happiness instead of malice.

When Sasuke was close enough, Itachi grabbed his wrist and twisted his arm, he felt it snap, he flinched when it did.

He hated this.

He grabbed the back of Sasuke shirt and threw him into a tree. He heard the tree break when Sasuke came into contact with it. His foolish little brother was still no where near his level.

He looked back over to see if Sasuke had gotten back up, only to find him no longer there.

 _What the...?_

Suddenly he felt something slithery grab him around his wrist. He then felt something bite him.

 _Shit..._

"Losing your edge Itachi-Kun?" The voice that sounded oddly like a pedophiles spoke from his left.

He looked over at Sakura only to find Sasuke charging at her.

 _No!_

He violently grabbed at the snake that kept him and Orochimaru connected, he dug his blunt nails into the scaly skin. The snake was still biting him, he needed to get away, quickly at that.

He took out the special kunai that he and Sakura both had a piece of. Relentlessly he slashed at the disgusting creature that had its venom soaking into his blood right this very moment.

When he heard the snap that signified the death of the snake, Itachi lunged toward Sasuke, who was mere feet from Sakura. He saw her kill a full grown man by sending her fist through his shoulder, the initial shock must've ruptured his nerve system, killing him instantly.

 _Get closer!_

"From Kakashi-Sensei."

 **Do you care?**

 _Hurry!_

"From Naruto-Baka."

 **What is she to you?!**

 _No!_

"From the Uchiha-Bastard that thinks he's better than everyone else! I hate them! All of them! I'm hiding from Konoha too!"

 **Who is Sakura to you?!**

 _Someone special!_

It didn't matter. It didn't matter that she was running from Konoha. That she was running from his home. Before he would've returned her to Konoha in a heartbeat. But now his morals had been devalued, here he was protecting this little gurl from the person that he was doing this for.

His plans were changing.

As were his values.

Along with the terrible organ people like to call the heart.

He got there just in time to slam his foot into his brothers stomach, effectively knocking the wind out of him. He then grabbed Sakura, he really didn't want to do this, but he had to.

"I hope that you can play scared Sakura." He whispered at an angle that no one could see them.

"Sasuke." The elder Uchiha started. "I take it that this person is important to you." He gestured to Sakura whom he'd put in a headlock just for good measure. He saw he brother whip his head around to stare hatefully at him, before turning his eyes to the pink-haired pre-teen in his arms.

He saw his brother flash his teeth at him as he pulled his gums back in a growl. He really was pissed. He smirked at him and let his other hand hold Sakura's left hip in his hand, massaging it gently.

"Does this make you angry Sasuke?" He asked as he bent his head down to ghost hip lips over the young pinket's neck, earning him a gasp.

Oh god this was so wrong. So very wrong, yet he continued. St this point he wasn't sure if he was continuing just to spite Sasuke, or because he didn't want to stop holding her like he owned her.

He had done terrible things, but this still made him feel like utter scum. Even after a whole year of trying to get the fact that she was still inside his head, out, but he just couldn't, he didn't even know what to do about this anymore.

 **Probably best to ignore it.**

 _Are you serious?! That is a joke right!? Do you understand that I am thinking about a pre-teen in such a manner?!_

"Sasuke I asked you a question." This time he definitely crossed the line, but he did noting to stop himself from practically jumping over it.

"Does this make you angry, Sasuke?" He said it again, this time clasping his mouth over her neck, sucking gently, then harshly, earning a surprised gasp from the girl he held so dearly.

"You bastard!!" Sasuke shouted, oh yes, he definitely crossed a line!

But it appeared that Sasuke could not move. Had he been too rough?

 **No! He has to learn hate, do not give him sympathy now!**

Strongly resisting the urge to run over to his little brother, Itachi held onto Sakura tighter, finally releasing her neck to smelt faintly of his favorite sweet treat.

"Foolish little brother. Do you honestly think that you can beat me?" He was mocking him again, something that he absolutely revolted, at least when it came to Sasuke, he did.

He heard the growl the came from his brother on the other side of the field, he hated himself so much right now, for multiple reasons. This had to be done though, no matter how he wished it wasn't so.

"Hate me Sasuke, hate me so much that it kills you on the inside. Hate me so much that you want to die.Run, and cling to your pathetic life..." Within seconds he had disappeared from the field.

Seconds ticked by until the hated venom filled call of "ITACHI!!!" Came into the elder Uchiha's ears like a siren, even if he was at least a mile away by more, carrying a shocked girl in his arms.

He was fueled by the fact that he didn't want to be alive anymore, he hadn't;t wanted to be alive for a very long time. Yet here he was, alive, being killed by his past sins and a disease that he could only postpone with drugs that were scarce.

What was the point of living? Itachi was pretty sure that he had no valid reason for living any more, other than Sasuke gaining his revenge. His little brother meant the world to him, even if he could not show it.

All of a sudden Itachi felt the overwhelming need to cry. Huh, when had the last time been that he felt like he needed to cry? He had only cried a few times in his life. The most prominent being when he committed a sin that was simply unforgivable, and just about everyone knew about that.

He then remembered that someone was with him, a person who was under the category 'Special' kami who was he kidding, she was special! He knew that, and the fact that eh was acknowledging it made this whole case seem even wore, and by his standards no less.

Itachi landed in a clearing miles away from their last encounter, once he figured out that they weren't being followed that was.

And then, yet once again, Itachi was left feeling like the scum of the Earth.

But right now he thought that he was somehow even lower than the scum of the Earth.

Sakura's Pov:

Right now Sakura was pretty sure that she must be insane. Like literally fucking insane. Like get thrown in a mental hospital, or just got done with a torture session with Ibiki insane.

Here she was, in the arms of the man who killed Sasuke's clan, the whole reason for her teammate suffering.

 **No god damnit! He is NOT our teammate, he's the bastard who rejected us time and time again, AFTER we poured our heart out to him! That little prick doesn't deserve our sympathy! Plus who would you rather trust, Sasuke-Bastard, or Itachi-Kun?!**

She already knew the answer. She didn't need Inner to tell her. It was clear as day. She would rather be in the arms of a mass murdering rouge-nin, than in the arms of her revenge -obsessed former teammate.

She knew who this man really was. He was kind. He was thoughtful. He was a gentleman.

He was simply, Itachi.

Oh how she would love to say 'Her Itachi' but she couldn't. Because as much as she knew that she wanted it to be so, it wouldn't. Because, and Sakura had figured this out the hard way, reality never came to be the way you wanted it to.

That wasn't the way that things worked unfortunately.

It was then that Sakura realized that they were stopped. In a clearing that was smaller than the last one, it couldn't be more than twenty feet wide.

Before she knew it her feet were on the ground, her own arms had enveloped her in order to keep out the cold chill that flitted across her skin.

She briefly surveyed the area, looking out beyond the trees to see if anyone was here, if anyone had followed them.

When she turned back to Itachi, to properly thank him, she found him on his knees, forehead touching the forest floor.

"I am so sorry for my actions earlier Sakura-San, they were uncalled for, and I have no excuse for them, all I can do is beg for your forgiveness..." He spoke with an edge in his voice, possibly a crack, because if Sakura wasn't mistaken, and she was pretty sure that she wasn't, he sounded like he was about to cry.

She didn't like him like that. On the floor, begging. Begging most certainly didn't mix well with a man of Itachi's status. He was, and perhaps this was her own opinion, but he was to kind to be doing something like that.

He began to speak again, so Sakura hushed her thoughts.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't be your 'Good Person', you have no idea how much that hurt. I know that I am not exactly the best person, and that I have done a lot of wrongs in my life. But I have to know, that you know, that I can be your 'Good Person'..." Ah yes, she'd said that a while back hadn't she? Perhaps the whole fight sequence that was on replay in her head was making her forget.

He continued to ramble until his speech dwindled into soft whispers that idly reminded her of her shy friend Hinata Hyuga.

Itachi was no Hinata though.

She needed him to stop, this was breaking her heart.

Or what was left of it anyway.

She reached out and tapped his shoulder. After a minute of receiving no response she became a bit worried.

"Itachi-Kun-" Not a second after the words left her mouth was she practically being squeezed to death. She was crushed against his chest, his arms squeezed her so tightly, her arms were trapped in between them, she could barely even move her head.

"Tell me Sakura, do you know what it's like to want to die?" His voice was hoarse, she couldn't see anything but the material of his cloak.

 _"Report Kizashi." The voice of Danzo Shimura echoed throughout the small corridor that Sakura herself was in._

"Do you know what it's like to want so many missions that you don't wake up for days on end?"

 _"The target was eliminated, Danzo-Sama. What is so important that you needed me here?"_

 _"This task can be trusted with no one else, I hope that you understand that when I tell you this."_

"Do you know what it's like to want suicide missions, do you know how low you have to be at, to want to die?"

 _"Hai Danzo-Sama" Her father had always been so eager, so ready for the next step, Sakura hid around the corner in the ROOT base, wondering what could be so important._

 _"It is a simple assassination of a female shinobi, no higher than low-Chuunin rank or high-Genin, she is a threat to our Jinchurikki."_

"Do you know what it's like to desire death like I do?"

 _"Hai Danzo-Sama. What is the targets name?" Her father wasn't't fond of killing, she knew that because he told her so._

 _Danzo didn't hesitate. "Sakura Haruno." all was silent, her father didn't move from his crouched position._

 _Sakura was frozen in shock. What was a Jinchurikki? Why did he want her dead? Why wasn't her father saying anything?_

 _You know that moment wen you feel like your world comes crashing down, where everything just falls apart as if it was nothing? Well that was the day that Sakura's world was smashed into little pieces._

 _"Hai Danzo-Sama it shall be done..."_

She lost it. Her self-strength that she had been building up for what seemed like forever came crumbling to her feet.

"Yes! Yes I do! I want death so badly it hurts! I want to die with a passion. I don't want to live a lie that cannot be fixed! I want to be free! To others I am dead! But right now I feel so alive that I want to die!!" why did this happen every time they were together. How could he possibly tear down her walls piece by piece so easily? With just a few simple words?

She felt him slump against her, and heard the barely audible whisper in her ear.

"Then aren't I already your good person? I will be here to help you keep living Sakura, I hope that you'll do the same for me..." and then the words died as they ended, and his full weight was put onto her, just as someone came out of the bushes too.

"Well fucking god damnit you guys! Why the hell didn't you tell me that we were moving?!" There in all his blue-fish glory stood Kisame, Sameheda strapped securely to his back.

Sakura felt relief wash over her in waves, it was Kisame! Oh thank god!

A little while later, after some teasing from Kisame about 'Making Sweet Love Down By the Fire" (A.N. If you get the reference please tell me!) they had set up a camp, in which a small fire had been made.

Turns it that Itachi had been bitten by a snake, although considering that he fought Orochimaru, that wasn't too surprising, it was on his left wrist. Kisame actually knew a little about poisons which was convenient, when asked about it he replied.

"Someone who I hold very dear to me taught me about them, she was training to be a medic." He looked up into the sky at that, looking reminiscent.

"So you didn't make 'Sweet love down by the fire'?" She tried to play her best innocent face, but failed when she saw the blue mans skin turn purple in a blush. Kisame was blushing at something like that.

"No you damned brat! I was trying to be trustful to you damnit!" He huffed and turned away from her. She smiled despite the fact that he was a little bit pissed at her witty remark.

She chuckled a little and took a quick glance at Itachi , who now currently laid in a sleeping bag not far from them. if she recalled correctly the poison should be completely gone from his system by morning.

Sighing she also looked at the sky, waiting for the moon to appear, not shortly after did Kisame dismiss himself for guard duty, leaving her alone with a sleeping Itachi.

The fire was dimming, so sakura decided to just put it out with a simple water Jutsu.

"Water Style: Water Bullets!" She whispered softly and then all that was left was the little amount of dying smoke that came out of the dying embers.

She placed her hands on her knees and hefted herself up, slowly among her way towards Itachi, who laid in his sleeping bag, not moving a muscle.

At first she just sat next to him, looking at him, watching him. He looked peaceful right now, not serious, or intimidating, although she'd never really seen him angry, she doubted that she wanted to.

The clouds disappeared, and the moon became apparent, highlighting a sight befit for the gods.

His stress marks were highlighted in the moonlight making them look even deeper than before. His dark hair had a silver tint to it, it almost had a glowing effect. His long lashes casted dark shadows against his cheekbones.

 _You're just to beautiful to be real..._

Sakura sighed as she looked up at the moon, leaning her head on her own shoulder she folds her legs beneath her and watched as her breath hit the cold air, creating a mist that shrouded her view of the moon.

 _I need to step up my game..._

 **Oh my god I need to step up my game. This is so cringe, I'm so sorry if there are any errors because I got a keyboard that hooked up to my phone through Bluetooth, and it kinda sucks, but oh well! Thanks for reading my filler chapter lol until next time!**

 **-lovesnaruto7**


	5. Chapter 5: Standing Under Starlight

Land of Grass  
Nearing Midnight

It was quiet in the Land of Grass, all was still as the night continued on unperturbed. If one were still you could hear the gentle sway of the tall snake grass or the soft sway of leaves.

If one were a ninja, one would hear the almost soft footfalls on the grass not ten meters away. A shinobi, a very talented one at that, made his way through the land of grass, he was heading towards his informant.

His informant gave him valuable information that any Shinobi Nation would kill to have. He knew that putting his trust in the boy all those years ago was a wise decision.

He just didn't know how much it would pay off. If he had he would've trained the child himself. Although when the out of character thought crossed his mind he dismissed it. He knew who he was.

And he was most certainly not a babysitter.

That much the mercenary knew. He was a cold-blooded killer. Banded and branded from his Village, he would forever, until he took his last dying breath, would belong to them in some way, shape or form.

The thought alone disgusted him.

They had taken far to much from him, for him to still be considered theirs. Many thought that he was just too lazy to hate the pitiful excuse for a shinobi village. They were wrong. He waited for no man. Just as time waited for no man.

Perhaps he was considered luck, seeing as he could no longer age. He was too lazy to feel lucky, yes that was it. He was too lazy to feel unbelievably lucky by the outcome of an event that led to him no longer being human.

He could name them off as if he'd made a book about them.

1: His parents died, during a war that they had nothing to do with, killed by The White Fang of Konoha.

2: His Village refused to tell him about their deaths' thus leading him to believe that they were alive for years when they had been dead for three.

3: They turned his own family against him, to lie to him.

Yes, everything was crystal clear.

As usual.

He saw the dirt road before he landed in it, which considering his superior vision, did not surprise him. He saw the hill leading up to the bridge. He was gonna miss it soon if he didn't hurry.

This was something that he couldn't afford to be lazy about, unfortunately.

He placed chakra into his feet, easily sending him off and up the hill. He sure as hell hoped that the boy was there, if not he'd beat him to a bloody pulp next time they encountered each other.

Whether it be as friends or foes, he didn't care.

He heard the rushing water beneath him. He didn't have to look down to know that flood season was quickly approaching. He felt his cloak billow around him slightly as the wind shifted in his direction.

It wasn't like he could actually feel it, he just could tell.

After all, a Shinobi must always be aware of their surroundings.

The boy was sitting on the opposite side of the bridge in which he stood. His glasses glinted off of the moonlight, giving him an eerie essence that would've scared a lesser man.

It was a good thing that Akasuna Nō Sasori was anything but.

He didn't move, he simply didn't feel the need to. While he waited for the boy to get his ass in gear, he surveyed the area with his eyes and chakra. He was pleasantly surprised to find no one.

He'd always had the sneaking suspicion that the boy would someday scum to his master completely.

Then again he'd also thought that Deidara was a girl, more times than he cared to count, so he guessed, a lot could be said a from a single glance.

When the boy shifted slightly, Sasori went to stand in front of him, blocking the boy's view of the moon. The child had the audacity to smirk at his action, before rolling his eyes.

"Never one for patients, were you Sasori?" The boy said smugly like he knew some big secret.

Oh please...

"Humor me for a bit then, and then while you're doing so, do you care to explain why you've made me wait this long?" his voice held no anger of malice.

He hadn't a need for it, because anyone who knew anything, knew to never fuck with Sasori of the Red Sand. He killed four platoons of highly skilled Shinobi without breaking a sweat.

And out in the desert no less.

Had he found the situation funny, he may have snorted. But he didn't.

"Just give me the damn information brat." His tone was clipped and showed his annoyance quite clearly. At the moment he couldn't care less, yet he found it quite interesting that the boy hadn't asked about his payment yet.

A scroll was slipped out of the young boys' cloak. The night was chilly against the poor brat' s skin, he could see the goosebumps from here.

A small sadistic part of him hoped that the goosebumps were there for his presence. That they stood on end, afraid of the many things that he could do. That the boy's back was drenched in sweat, afraid that if he wasn't careful a knife would come in contact with his jugular.

Humans were so weak...

He was ashamed to have been one at one point. Unfortunately, you cannot change that past.

He held his hand out, his patience wearing thin. The boy looked like he was about to hand it to him before he snatched it back swiftly.

He saw the smirk there yet once again, causing him to slit his eyes at the stupid, stupid child before him.

"Brat..." his voice was a warning, the next time that the brat decided that it was funny to do something like this, he'd personally slit his throat without hesitation.

Informant or not, this boy was a loose-thread hanging risk.

"No, I'm afraid that you keep saying my name wrong." His smirk broadened as Sasori narrowed his eyes.

He'd kill the brat before the night was over at this rate.

He swiftly appeared behind the annoyance that was his informer, putting him in a headlock rather quickly.

"Give me my information brat. Now." His grip tightened to the point of breaking bones, and Kabuto was quick to agree to his demand.

"Fine! Fine! Take it! Now give me my payment!" Sasori released him and pushed him onto his knees with one hand. the scroll rolled not far away from the nuisance, if it weren't for the band holding it together it would've rolled open.

Sasori didn't want to see what was inside of it just yet.

He liked a little suspense. It was a guilty pleasure that was a bit masochistic, seeing as when he found out that his parents were dead, the suspense had been three years long.

He dropped a small bag on the ground after bending down to retrieve the scroll, letting it hit the ground with an almost soundless plop.

"Half the money this time brat, next time you should learn some manners." He heard the boy scramble for the small sash of money, hearing him gasp.

"But that's not fair! I gave you what you wanted, now you hold up your end of the deal! This isn't fair!" The boy cried for a second time.

He smirked before turning back to the brat.

"Life isn't fair Kabuto, get used to it..."

And then he was gone.

* * *

Sakura's Pov

Nearing Dawn

Sakura rubbed her eyes tiredly as she blinked. Shaking her head fiercely she looked up into the faintly pink sky, wishing for nothing more than a pillow. She looked over to the still sleeping Itachi, who was paler than his usually pale skin was. Her eyes narrowed perceptively as she watched him cough, seeing a splotch hit his lower left lip. She got to her knees and crawled over to his bedroll, squinting to see the dark blotch.

Blood...

He was coughing blood! Had the poison been worse than Kisame anticipated?! She wiped away the blotch with the back of her hand. Stupid Kisame! How could he be so wrong?! How could she have just let his casual suggestion go by without a second thought!? Just because he'd gone into some spiel about his never-to-happen love happened to come up?! Goddamnit she was better than that! She knew that she wasn't the best fucking medic ever if she even was one, she just read a few medical textbooks, nothing much, but damn! She needed to find Kisame! Where was he you might ask?! FUCKING FIREWOOD! At this time!

"Shit.." She shut her eyes hard, needing them to refocus.

 _Please be okay..._

She lifted her hand to feel his face and flinched when she felt how cold he was. He was so cold! How was he even alive right now?! Then the thought occurred to her, 'Was he even alive?' She quickly pressed her head to his chest, ripping away the bedroll. A steady heartbeat followed after a few seconds.

She sighed in relief, falling back onto her rear-end.

Clawing through her hair with her fingers, Sakura placed her head down on her knees, shuddering. Sitting next to a dead body for two hours didn't sit well with her, especially when that supposed dead body was someone like Itachi.

She didn't even feel the chakra until the footsteps were about a foot away from her. Instinct kicked in and she rolled to left, right in front f Itachi. She was on all fours now, her legs spread out, she craned her neck up so fast she was surprised that she didn't hurt it. There stood a man decked in a long black cloak that was similar, red clouds spread throughout the material. Short yet wavy red hair danced in front of chestnut eyes that looked prosthetic almost, plastic maybe.

"Hm? Uchiha what have you gotten yourself into? Looks like I'll save your ass this time..." His drawl seemed to be lazy, like he really loathed having to help Uchiha, WAIT! UCHIHA! He knew Itachi!? The cloak! They must be partners! Yes! Kisame must know this man as well!

"Wai-" A clutter of kunai made their way toward her, her legs prepared for the jump to the right before she remembered that Itachi was directly behind her. Se couldn't move or else he'd get hurt! Damn!

She turned her body and let her hands cover the top of her spine, where she knew one of the weapons was aimed. Sure enough, she felt the metal pierce her hands not seconds later, two in her left leg, one in her lower left shoulder, one in her right bicep, and one straight through the fucking hands! Damnit! Some partner he was! He could've killed Itachi! Although worried about the man's health she really should've been more concerned with her own. She dropped her right arm feeling it go numb. Her left leg collapsing beneath her, her shoulder limping to the side, her hands felt tingly, but not numb. Shit! How come she hadn't thought of something better?!

"Hm, impressive, thinking of where I would hit you, unfortunately, you aren't that smart." The man was coming closer to them, she needed to stop him from coming any closer, but without the use of most of her body parts she was pretty much screwed. Her breath came in hard ragged breaths that hurt her lungs with each inhale, damn medical ninjutsu sure as hell would come in handy right about now!

She closed the little distance between them, throwing her body underneath him, hoping for a cheap-shot, she threw her functioning leg towards his more *cough* sensitive *cough* area, thinking that would distract him long enough. But the clutching of his area never came, he stood still as if he hadn't felt the impact at all. That couldn't be possible though! Unless he'd made a shadow clone, but it would've disappeared, and this one hadn't!

The man span around and smashed his hand down on her throat, Sakura swore that she felt a little snap, but chose to ignore it because the situation at hand seemed more important.

"Do they not teach anything in the academy anymore? Do you not know what I am?" He squeezed harder causing her body to spasm.

"Do you think that you can win?" He was teasing her, like a cat just before it killed the mouse.

She breathed deeply, or at least she tried.

"I'm still standing." She said quietly, but she knew that he heard her, he just didn't understand.

She lifted her hands, the symbol for kage-bushin no Jutsu formed.

The explosive went off before he could move, and he blocked the brunt of the explosive coming in for Sakura, her legs were not so lucky. She tried to scream, but it came out strangled like her throat wouldn't let the sound come out. Why couldn't she make a sound? His hands weren't around her throat anymore, her vision blurred. Her head hit the forest floor with a thud, she felt the sliver of blood come down her chin, seep onto her neck, and down through the collar of her dirtied shirt. Her head hurt like hell, her ears were ringing, she couldn't feel seventy-five percent of her body anymore. She saw, through the burned and singed area surrounding her Itachi, rolled onto his side, still inside his bedroll.

She reached out to him, hoping that he'd magically wake up, help her, avenge her, do something.

Her hand was stomped on before she could even fully extend it, but instead of seeing a black sandal like she'd expected, she found herself face-to-face with a high heel.

 **Still the weak link?**

* * *

Sasori's Pov

 _You have got to be fucking kidding me..._

He'd come into this clearing to stop because he wanted to read his scroll, and instead, he found his stupid-ass subordinate on bedrest with a pink haired teenager who looked like she was three. Nothing can be simple, _not one fucking thing_ , _**ever.**_

Therein all the Sannin glory that she deserved was Tsunade Senju. Her kimono shirt open revealing what was in his opinion too much cleavage, her foot planted firmly over the girl's hand. Her blonde hair in its signature twin pigtails, and honey eyes staring on in disinterest. Hands resting firmly on her hips, a woman behind her, holding what appeared to be a small pig, wearing a vest.

"Quite the ruckus you're making over here Sasori, mind if I ask what you're doing?" Her tone demanded him to give an answer, years of training and obeying urging him to give her said answer, but discipline made him more difficult, and he smirked cockily, pretending he knew so much.

"Shouldn't you be in your office _Hokage-Sama?"_ His tone condescending, he did a mock bow, if only to spite her into a reaction that de desperately craved. He saw the tick mark appear quickly on her forehead, and he saw her try to rein in her temper, but she failed miserably. Stomping the opposite foot that wasn't pining the child to the floor, she created a small crater.

No chakra eh?

Impressive all things considering, it's not like he'd never seen Tsunade the Slug Princess before, he'd briefly seen her in the war when he'd been spying out weaknesses in their defenses.

Anything to get the upper hand in the shinobi world, he surmised.

He was, in the end, just startled to see her here, not that he'd ever show it. He figured that she'd stay in Konoha where she belonged. After all the old hag was getting up in her years, he was surprised that she wasn't carrying a cane with her. Taking a lazy glance at the girl who was, from the looks of things, keeping Uchiha hostage earlier, he found her face down in the dirt, eyes closed, and blood dripping from her mouth.

The human species would never cease to amaze him at how weak they were.

He thought about taking the girl in for questioning and torture but decided that she looked far too pathetic to really be anyone of high importance.

Perhaps he'd get lucky and Uchiha would wake up, but he knew that he wasn't that lucky, or he just didn't think much of the fact that he really was lucky, and just choose to ignore it.

"No _Pinocchio_ , I am a shinobi of Konoha, not it's Hokage. At least for right now, I have one of my best Shinobi covering for me!" He didn't miss the slightly disappointed tone in her voice or the shift of sadness in her eyes. Being as emotionless as he was you'd figure that he wouldn't be as great at reading them as he was, but that was not the case.

Back in Konoha a very lazy Shikaku sat at a desk, head in his hands, every elder screaming at him.

 _Why can't life be simple?_

(I just really wanted to add that part!)

"Is that so?" Pretending not to really care was a natural talent to Sasori, he just hoped that it was enough to fool this old bat.

Or whatever...

Her temper rose again, quickly, she might want to get that in check. She flicked her right hand and a woman that Sasori hadn't noticed before came up behind her, a little pig trailing not far behind.

"Shizune, get the girl out of here and bind her, we'll deal with her later until then grab Uchiha, I'm sure that he'll be of some use." She smirked and cracked her knuckles. "I'll take care of puppet boy." Sasori sighed, he didn't feel up for a fight right now. He wanted to read his fucking scroll, but alas he had no choice.

And after all, good things come to those who wait.

Sighing he grabbed a random scroll from inside his cloak, and lept into battle, smoke clouding his vision.

There wouldn't be much to remember from this fight, not with all the moving. He saw the crushed ground, rubble from it as well, he didn't think on it long though, because he was to busy dodging. He had to hand it to the woman, she could really move. He knew for a fact the Senju Tsunade's best quality was _not_ her speed, but her strength and expertise on medical ninjutsu. This was quickly becoming a pain in his ass, what with the fact that three of the fucking fingers were missing! This was becoming a complete waste of his time, he should've just left Uchiha's sorry ass here and been on his way home. But nooo! He decided to be a prick about the whole thing and somehow hoped that Uchiha would owe him later.

After all, it's not every day that you have something over an Uchiha.

Her chest heaved lightly from exertion, she was rusty, or so it appeared. A shinobi must always be on their guard and even an act as convincing as this wouldn't fool him. He knew better. His years in the field knew better. His skills knew better. His dead parents knew better. And so, with a wave of his hand, he sent puppets crashing down on the Sannin, and just like her, uncaring for his surroundings.

There was something beautiful in the way that everything that was once pieced together so carefully and wildly, was utterly destroyed and broken in a matter of minutes. He quickly deciphered that he liked the feeling, the feeling of being in power. Of having the ultimate control, he could almost see Leader-Sama's vision as if it was right in front of him. God wanted power, like any human being that desired to be more than what they were originally created. The will to be normal, to be _mortal_ breaking and shattering beneath greed and hate, the thin line between love and hate snapping until you killed what you love most desperately. Life and Death being the ultimate and utmost importance. Survival turning to meaningless death, the end result being your own insanity, and even that slipping away from you like dirt in the wind, moving forward but never fully put together.

 _Broken,_ in the end...

That's what everyone was, _Broken..._

Because Happiness is just Sadness witnessing Reality...

It was these thoughts that he heard echoing in his mind as his wooden exterior was cracked on the left side of his body. Crushed and shattered by hands that had saved and killed countless. Death, he thought idly, was the easiest choice, and the fastest, that he could ever hope to make. Because life, or the pathetic excuse of one that he had, would never be the beautiful thing that was told in fairytales by parents. Their world was disgusting, utterly and undoubtedly horrid. And he, whatever he was now, was another perfect example of the disgusting things that lived in it.

And the thought alone shattered him again, and again each day.

And he was scared of it...

And he laughed at it...

The audacity...

* * *

Itachi's Pov

He felt tight and hazy. The only words that registered in his mind, because he couldn't think of any others. His ears rung with the familiar eerie noise, he didn't really care though. His chest felt compacted and full of something that he couldn't quite register. He never really could put his finger on it, even when he'd been diagnosed he had felt it. It was _there_ , he just didn't know what to call it. He didn't even know what the disease was called, but then again neither did the doctors who told him that he wouldn't live past the age of _twenty-five._ To most, it might've been a stressing topic to think about, but to him he'd been living with it his whole life, knowing and not knowing that he was oh so slowly dying, and the only thing keeping him here was this small white pill.

He tried to open his eyes, and with a lot of effort, he finally did, cracking his eyes open only to have to shut them moments later. The heavy dust that had been kicked up around him confused him greatly. Then came the fact that he didn't know where he was, which was even more of a silent pandemonium then all the crashing that he could faintly make out not very far from him. The last thing that his mind seemed to recover was him slumping onto Sakura, after the pretty much life-changing conversation that they'd endured he was positive that he must've been brought somewhere safe. His hands grasped out in front of him but didn't make it more than a couple inches before he felt the soft silk-like fabric of his sleeping roll.

So he had been put to rest, not in the way that most might think, he'd been put into his sleeping roll, yet his clothes hadn't been removed. He briefly acknowledged the fact that his wrist was bandaged.

He needed to move, there was clearly a fight that was commencing even as he lost himself to his useless thoughts, as much as he hated to admit that. So he stood up, or well tried to, his limbs had been circulating less blood since he'd been incapacitated, so he knew that he wouldn't be moving all that fast. Thinking quickly Itachi shot chakra throughout his limbs, giving him a jolt that made him flinch violently. A shiver shot down his spine as he felt all of the Killer Intent in the atmosphere. It would've been suffocating had he not been raised in an environment that was day-in-day-out survival training.

It didn't take long for the dust to clear, thank god. When it did, he found his old commanding officer, Tsunade Senju standing there huffing and a tick mark on her banged forehead. She looked pissed if he ever did say so himself. He was very immune to her temper, so it didn't strike him as odd for her to be mad, a battle that was a challenge seemed to make her impatient. Perhaps it was the fact that over the years she'd become accustomed to winning, far too often, and that had led to her being mad. She was just too overconfident, and after years of being told of how strong she was, that was no surprise.

What was a surprise was the fact that his subordinate stood across from her, the left side of his body smashed to splinters, completely cracked and smashed, it reminded him of split firewood, not that it wasn't a shock. He seemed just as equally pissed as Tsunade, if not more so. How did this ever come to be, and in the short time that he was incapacitated? He himself was stressed just looking at the scene.

And he began to feel their animosity the second his eyes scanned the area and found Sakura, bound around her middle, bruised and beaten, bloody and broken. He felt the rush of the heat of rage quick and hot, it burned up his insides. The need to kill had never been so strong, the need to hurt had never been so prominent. It burned through him so intensely that he felt the flash as he shot Amaterasu out at the two who had caused damage. Surely it had been one of them. And for the first time in his life, Itachi activated his Mangekyou Sharingan unconsciously, he felt the swirl of flame shoot underneath his cloak, and felt the swell of heat flash underneath his shirt, causing the ever-so-familiar power that had his mind spiral.

His mind whirled with the image of a small and beaten pink-haired girl as he aimed the black fire toward what was quickly spiraling into revenge.

* * *

 **Reviews:**

 **Red Reaper88: Thank you! Thanks for reviewing!**

 **Missfire1: Her being a threat to Naruto will be explained in later chapters. I know that a lot of people want Sakura and Tsunade to still have that bond, so I intend on letting them have it, but with my own sort of twist! Thanks for reviewing!**

 **kayna96: I know right, if one of my parents claimed that they'd willingly kill me, I might as well just go jump off of a cliff! Thanks for reviewing!**

 **Cruisegirl86: I know I thought that Kisame was adorable as well! I am still debating on letting her travel with them, I want her to have that bond with Tsunade, so I think that I might separate her from Itachi for a while, tension if you will! Thanks for reviewing!**

 **: Right they're such a pain in the ass! I know that some of them have mistakes, that's why I went back and fixed them! Just for you buddy! Thanks for reviewing!**

 **Oh thank god...this took me forever..I'm so sorry, my phone is currently out of commission and I cannot type on it, so I'm using an administrated computer to complete my chapters until it's fixed. They said that it will be fixed by April 1, wouldn't it suck if they were just fucking with me? Like I'd be there for my phone and they'd say "April Fools!" oh my god that would piss me off so much! But I'd probably laugh about it later! Please have a good evening, and sleep well! R &R!**

 **-lovesnaruto7**


	6. Chapter 6: Blinded

Itachi's Pov

Continue From Last Chapter

The raw intensity that he had shown had startled even himself. The voice inside screamed that being so angry, so awful was wrong. He ignored it as he stayed rooted to the ground. He saw the flash in front of his eyes again as his eyes teared from going and delving deeper to returning to their first stage, an example of him trying, but failing, to rein in his anger.

It failed, dramatically so. Why did this happen? Every _**fucking**_ time. This happened.

He would find something-someone, he mentally corrected, that he held dear, even if only admitting it recently, it still made his chest throb painfully behind his ribs.

The familiar heat that seemed all consuming, yet at the same time it seemed to shy away from his very being consumed his body. His eyes seeing the world through that of red, black, and white now, thanks to his Sharingan flashed as his Susanno's came into reality.

How long had it been since he'd used Susanoo? The last time he remembered using it was when he first acquired the rare ability.

The mission had been simple, him and Shisui, along with a newly assigned team member named Genma, had been sent to the Land of Iron. He remembered the blood that had splattered his teammates clothes, soiling them with the rich color of death. The terrible stench that had wafted from the, even as Itachi stood frozen, unknowing of what to do. All he could see was the decreasing pressure in his elder cousin's chest cavity. The thought of him dead, his only friend, his best friend, dead had sent his eyes roaring with pain, and him collapsing onto his knees, tearing away his ANBU mask as blood tears rolled down his childish cheeks.

Yes he remembered quite clearly. That had been the last time he'd had the overwhelming need to maul. To hurt. To kill.

He'd kept the Susanoo's a secret that only he knew, he kept it from his family even. That hadn't stopped his anxiety when his father smeared his thumb over the old blood-tear stain that Itachi had tried fruitlessly to remove.

His focus found the two chakra signatures, the two that caused this whole damn mess.

The ones who are responsible for the state of her deteriorating health...

The rage slammed back into him full force, taking over his subconscious, and he willingly let it.

He was here, and as long as he still stood tall, he would avenge the girl that he suddenly felt very protective of.

The stark white of his Susanno's with Sharingan vision kept him on his toes. The figure's were red through the veil, he saw their eyes widen, their mouths gape openly at the scene that unfolded in front of them.

It wasn't every day that you pissed an Uchiha off to the point that he unleashed the power heard in myths and legends.

Definitely not a common occurrence.

He lashed his right arm out, maybe a bit flamboyant yes, but he always had a flare for the dramatic, and damn did he work it.

With the action came the Sword of Totsuka, unsheathing itself with ease as Itachi's Susanoo's struck down on the ground creating a crater he wasn't affected by.

Because he was up in the air now, he hadn't even known that the Susanoo could be this developed. The upper body was fully formed, with the armor still intact. The legs were an entirely different situation, they had the bone only, they were not fully developed. As the exact same sensation of pain assaulted his nerves, just as the first time, he felt the familiar streak cross his left cheek, he almost didn't feel it.

Every one of his cells burned with regret and savage pain. He thought that if he stayed like this he might as well have fire in his veins. Maybe that was what he needed though. More Power.

The thought hit Itachi hard, and for a brief moment he and his Susanoo stood completely still. Power. He felt disgust first. Then the familiar hatred that was packed away. But it wasn't hatred for anyone around him, it was for himself.

He suddenly felt as if he were looking into a reflection, envisioning himself in his mind's eye he saw his father. Stress lines and the light coal hair of Uchiha Fugaku was what he saw. He saw the need to overtake, the need to have more than what was granted. He saw his father's tar-ridden will. He saw the face morph into something that startled him. The Masked Man.

The man who helped him create a massacre in under the span of an hour. Helped him create sadness. Helped him create anger. Helped him create hatred.

He was brought back by an onslaught of coughs that assaulted him, and he slapped a hand over his mouth to keep the aforementioned sound away.

He knew that there would be blood when he drew his hand away from his mouth. He just wasn't expecting so much blood.

It slipped through his fingers like silk. It was so liquidy. Meaning that his blood was thinning.

Stupid. He thought in distress. He should've been more careful! He should've remembered the consequences for using his Susanno's. Yet here he stood, well floated, in his Susanoo. Straining his body wasn't an option. He knew better. Or at least he though that he did.

 **Consequence's, don't matter in this game...**

He flicked his doujutsu-activated eyes over to the woman who had a bound girl behind her. He threw her into a genjutsu without much thought. Her mistake for meeting his eyes when he was pissed off, not his. He found the hung head of Sakura behind the now collapsed woman. From here, and with his Sharingan activated he could see the slow fall of blood from her lips. He saw the blood drop into a dark deep abyss, shattering the serene area into ripple's, and ripple's turned into waves, waves turned into tsunami's. Consequences be damned.

He went blank, it was like having amnesia. Bits here and there, flashes of flying fists. Totsuka crashing into a clearing, wiping the area clean. At one point he heard a scream. It wasn't one of those ones that you see in poorly crafted movies that get sold at second-hand shops neither. It was loud and clear, like a blade being sliced across your skin. The meaning behind it rung clear in his head. He felt his eyes seize and transform back into their normal coal shade. His cloak clun to him like another skin, the sweat on his body made him so uncomfortable, but he wouldn't let it show.

He heard her scream again. "Please stop!" He felt shame. "What's wrong with you?!" He felt humiliation. "Come back to me! Please!" He felt broken.

He dropped to his knees, how could he? He had prided himself on not destroying, because it was wrong.

He felt the tears slip from his eye sockets, he could only wish and hope that they were made out of water, instead of blood.

But he was wrong. He knew that he was, for when he reached up and found his cheeks, they were stained with the blood of sin, instead of the tears of sorrow.

Monster!

Bastard!

Murderer!

He wanted to die! Why couldn't it just be given to him?! Huh god dammit why!? He didn't ask for so much! He cried out. A cry reserved for someone who was dead inside. He screamed and clawed at his eyes. He clawed at his whole body, feeling like he was having the life sucked out of him. He shut his eyes tightly, wishing for the throbbing in his head to die. To suffer.

"Itachi-Kun!" He heard it and he only cried louder. Not only had he fucked up other people's lives, but he'd gone and hurt the one person who even bothered to love him anymore! How did he deserve to live, when people like her needed better lives?! How was he worthy!?

He felt her tackle him, he didn't register hitting the ground, or he was just too busy to notice. She clung the the fabric of his soaked cloak with her left hand. With the right she held his hand, intertwining their fingers. He slammed his head against the ground. He heard her sob against him. He made her cry. Again.

He wasn't worthy...

He blanked out.

 **Ooo, Dream Sequence, Ooo**

Itachi was laying in a field. He could feel the uncomfortable grass pushing against his skin through the fabric of his shirt. He could feel it in his hands as he fisted them.

He could feel it in between his toes as he curled them, and as they tickled his feet.

He could feel the sunlight against his eyelids. It beckons him to open them, just to get it away from him.

He fluttered his eyes open, finding a blue sky with no clouds. It could go on forever and no one would know.

He lifted himself up onto his forearms, looking around in confusion. Where was he?

He flipped himself over and pushed himself into his knees, scanning his surroundings.

"Itachi-Chan..." A voice called, from what direction, he didn't know.

"Itachi-Chan..." He knew that voice. It'd been so long since he'd heard it though.

"Itachi-Chan my baby come here!" It dawned on him, and all of a sudden he couldn't keep the tears away. The tears that were made of sorrow.

"Kaa-San..?" He turned and found her there. Soft eyes, long flowing black hair, arms open.

He didn't know that his feet were moving until he crashed into her arms, bawling like the day he'd been born. His Kaa-San was here, she was really here! He missed her so much! He cried harder, thinking that the reason that he missed her was because of himself. She felt so real, right now he couldn't comprehend that he'd wake up, and she would be gone yet once again. He didn't want to think about it, because right now he was with the only person who had held him when things went wrong, who would love him no matter his faults.

"Hush, my baby. I know. I know, Mama's here..." That only seemed to increase his bout of crying. Why did she have to say something like that? Something so motherly?

He figured that if he didn't speak, and was left back in reality with a slate covered in blood yet once again, he would never forgive himself.

"K-kaa-San, I-I'm so s-sorry! I-I'm sorry!" He was a blubbering mess. But he couldn't seem to keep his mouth shut. He missed her.

"I know darling. It wasn't your fault. I love you Itachi-Chan..my poor baby..." He cried even harder. Jeez if Kisame saw him like this he'd flush him down the toilet.

Then, she did the most obscene thing. She slapped him upside the head. He stopped sobbing and just gaped as she dusted her hands free.

"Now, Itachi, you know that I didn't want to do that. But I didn't raise a man who would cry in a situation where he only had three hours with his deceased mother." She said finally.

The deceased part was about to set him off.

"Now don't you start!" She said, albeit a bit softly.

He wiped at his face, what did she say? Three hours?! That was it!?

"Kaa-San, I don't understand. Why am I here?" He was so confused, he just wanted to be with her. He missed her so much...

She sighed and scratched her cheek, and then her innocent face morphed into one of devilish meddling.

Oh god...

"I've been watching you Itachi-Chan, you and my future pink-haired daughter in-law!" She exclaimed happily, wedding bells appearing behind her, doves and ribbons flying about.

He face planted, and sweatdropped, and blushed all at once.

"WHAT?!" He exclaimed, perturbed. God this was not going at all how he imagined it, not that he'd been thinking about his family up until about two minutes ago.

"Hm, yes I've seen the jealousy and the longing in your eyes, you love her don't you?" She squealed, and he was left dumbstruck.

Love? No, he'd promised himself to never love anyone ever again, not after the massacre.

Mikoto sighed again, her boy was either too dense, or too stubborn to admit that he loved this girl.

"You don't have to tell me everything, I've already seen it all. From your first meeting, and I really did raise my children to have manners didn't I?" She was gushing to herself. _Yes,_ he thought, _this is my Kaa-San..._

He sighed, wanting to drop the subject of 'Love' all together. He knew that he cared for her, and that she meant something. Nothing more nothing less.

"No Kaa-San, I only care for her deeply. She is someone who I vowed to protect." He tried calming his erratic mother down, but she would have none of it.

"Nonsense! You can't be that stupid...can you?" She gave him a look as question marks appeared above her head.

Oh gods, yes his mother always managed to throw him of guard when he least expected it.

He missed her so much. He missed this. Every little piece. Everything that he'd missed, in the time that had been lost. He felt the heartache, it hit him so hard he doubled-over just to keep from crying all over again.

He really was a mama's boy through-and-through.

The overwhelming need to hug her became apparent, and he did just that. She was shorter than him now, he remarked off handedly. The last time that he'd actually hugged his mother, had been the day before he was assigned his mission. And even then, they both knew that it'd been more of a goodbye, than a hello. Perhaps they just knew each other that well, or maybe it was because they were both of a pacifist nature. She had taught him to be gentle, that in war there is always a time to keep your weapon sheathed, and if drawing it wasn't necessary, then you were to keep it down.

"Have you seen everything Kaa-San?" Although his tone was distressed, and her face was as eerily calm as the night he'd slashed her back open, he already knew the answer. Everything that he'd done in his life, all of it, well mostly all of it, was utterly disgusting. From burning, to torturing, to ruthlessly murdering, Itachi had seen a lot of, well for better or worse wording, he'd seen a lot of shit.

She shook her head, and cupped his face with her hands, he sniffed and smelled the familiar smell of milk and honey wafting from her.

"You already know that I have, that should be obvious." Although she hadn't intended for the comment to be rude, he couldn't help but flinch. "But in all seriousness Itachi-Chan, I would like to discuss this girl..." She drifted off, and he knew that he'd have to tell her everything, even though she'd already seen it herself.

And so he went, regailing her with the tail of how they met, paying no matter to the faint flickering of something in his stomach. From their first meeting, all the way to what had happened in the field, not thirty minutes earlier. She looked concerned when he told her about his thoughts on Sasuke.

"I didn't want to harm him Kaa-San, I love Sasuke with all my heart," Or what's still there anyway, "But..he was! And...", itachi sighed again. "I just don't know what to do, every time I come in contact with Sasuke, I want to tell him the truth, no matter how much I know that I can't..." He rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his palms, wishing like no tomorrow that the burning sensation would leave his eye sockets.

Why, he asked the gods again, did tears have to be a real thing?

They hurt like hell, whether he meant the bloody kind or no, I have no idea. And they made your face red, and eyes puffy, they were burdens that should be cursed into the fiery pits of hell if he had anything to say about it.

For the remainder of his eternity he promised to himself that if he ever cried again, he would be-rid himself of the afromented appendages. Stupid as they are, he thought, you can't very well die blind, that's just a pitiful way to die.

He flopped back onto the ground, and just stared into a sky that was really non-existent. Onto grass that would no longer be here when he awoke. Holding the hand of the Kaa-San that he loved and held so dearly. It would be gone, and he wanted to cherish it with every fiber of his being.

"Itachi-Chan, do you remember your favorite childhood game?" His mother peeked her head into his vision.

Childhood game? He had to ask himself if there was even one point in time at which he would've considered himself a child.

Then before he could protest, his mother had her fingers on his exposed feet, and began to tickle them. He had to stifle his laughter.

"N-no! K-kaa-San! St-top! Ha! Ha! K-kaa-San!" SHe was relentless, she continued to tickle his feet, until his legs began to kick, then she was laughing, and as was he. Full-Blown body-shaking laughter, and he couldn't stop the ache of happiness and sadness that came with this privilege.

Time had seemed to go to fast, they'd rolled and jumped in this field, just as they'd done when he was a child. She made a flower crown for him, and he wore it, despite the shame induced blush spreading across his features.

But when she suddenly stopped, and that familiar look of finality crossed over her features, his stomach dropped into his feet. His eyes widened when he heard soft singing.

 _"Have I found you?"_ The voice was soft and soothing to both of their ears.

 _"Flightless Bird, Jealous, Weeping..."_ Again.

 _"Or Lost You?"_ It was getting louder, yet it didn't lose the soft component.

 _"American Mouth, Big Bill Looming..."_ He had never heard something so beautiful...

"She's waiting for you Itachi-Chan..." His mother stood, and took him with her, a soft smile upon her lips.

 _"Now I'm a Fat House Cat, Cursing My Sore Blunt Tongue..."_ No, it couldn't be over yet! His frantic eyes took to his mother, who in her own right looked sad.

"I know Itachi-Chan, I know..." Tears brimmed at her eyes, and she struggled to keep her nose from scrunching up.

 _"Watching The Warm Poison Rats..."_ The wind picked up, and suddenly the field turned to night, leaving a beautiful moon, with stars that glowed like firefly's.

 _"Curl Through The Wide White Fence Cracks..."_ His mother brought him close, cradling her child like she'd done so many years ago.

"She's waiting for you baby, our time is up.." Even as she said the words she seemed to be dying on the inside, for a second time, but this time it was emotional death.

 _"Have I found You?"_ She was waiting for him. She would be there when he woke up.

"I could not be happier to have raised such a handsome young man," She kissed his forehead, and he heard her shudder, she didn't want their time to be over either. "I love you Itachi-Chan..."

 _"Flightless Bird, Jealous, Weeping..."_ The tears he was prepared for, what he wasn't prepared for was his Kaa-San's last comment.

"I better see some grandchildren within the next few years, Itachi-Chan..." The wind swept him up, and he was being taken away from his Kaa-San, and she cried, swift crystal tears that spoke of unshed sadness, of no longer being in the world of the living. Death was a fickle thing. It came and went, like the snap of your fingers, and it wasn't forgiven. Nor was it forgotten, and Itachi would never do either of those. She waved at him, screaming something that he couldn't decipher. _No,_ he thought, _don't do that, anything but that!_ She smiled, and blew him a kiss, she jumped and she hollered, and she looked...

Happy...

"Kaa-San..." He said, but all was black when he did this time. And before he could even comprehend it, he was being body-slammed by the most beautiful thing ever.

"You're awake!" His eyes fluttered open, seeing her there, all pink hair, and green eyes. Bruised, but beautiful all the same. She was sitting by his bedside, waiting for him.

 _"She's waiting for you Itachi-Chan..."_ His mother's words rung clear in his head. She really was here. Waiting for him to wake, waiting at his bedside.

Just for him...

He sat up, despite the pain shooting through-out his whole body, and just stared.

Now, without the threat of battle he could see it all. The little dents. In her hands, the little scars and occasional misshapen bone, along with bruises, they were all there. Her legs, they had minimal scars, some fresh, others old-tales telling of her journey, and occasional small laceration here and there. Her face, her face was the almost the best part, she had a heart-shaped fae that he wouldn't trade the world for, her bangs pinned away, by the ribbon he'd given her, the little curves at her cheeks still tole of baby-fat that had yet to be shed. Her eyes, the best part, they shone in the sunset shining in through the window, illuminating them to look like fire. So big, so innocent, were his thoughts when he looked at her. Caught up in something that she couldn't help.

"Itachi-Kun? Are you okay?" She got closer to him now. He waited, as she got closer he really felt the impact of his mother's words hit him full force.

Love...

He loved her...

It took everything that he had not to tell her right then. Shame would've washed over him, but he was a bit preoccupied. Watching her with all he could, every little movement, every time her hand would brush over his. He was acutely aware of his body, everything small seemed like something big, and everything big would be huge, his thoughts needed to be excused.

"Sakura..." He let her name roll off of his tongue, as if it were the first time he'd said it.

He motioned for her to come closer, and she did so, without fear of him, or what he could do, or what he did.

He brought his middle and index fingers up, to poke her forehead, and she closed her eyes, waiting for it to come.

Instead he pulled her forehead forward and kissed it, and the whole world didn't seem to matter all that much. Nothing compared to Now, and Now could be Nothing to someone, but it would be Everything to him. For now and all eternity, this would be something that he wouldn't regret.

He pulled her forward in a hug and settled her nicely in his lap, remembering the tune that he'd heard earlier, it was so sweet. Sakura seemed dumbstruck on what to do, and he couldn't keep the smile away.

He wouldn't tell her now, no, he'd wait. He wouldn't play hard to get. He would show his love to her in little ways.

 _And when the time comes,_ he thought smiling, _I'll show you all the love in the world..._

"Sing with me _Tenshi..._ " He held onto her like a lifeline, he didn't want this to ever end.

He set his head against her shoulder, eyes half lidded, and began to sing her sweet melody.

 _"Have I found you?"_ He didn't think himself to be the best, but he most certainly wasn't the worst.

 _"Flightless Bird, Jealous, Weeping..."_ Sakura continued for him, her voice soft and soothing as she leaned back against him.

 _"Or Lost You?"_ She placed her hand over his own, and they sung, well Sakura did most of it, but Itachi helped.

They both sang to a melody that was lost on them, they wanted nothing more than to stay like that forever. In each other's arms, forever. The quickly fading sun spilling into the room, reminding Itachi that with every day lost, a new one would be gained. That tomorrow awaited him, she awaited him, when he awoke from the land of the dreaming. She would be there, waiting for him.

 _I'll show you it all..._ He thought happily.

He held Sakura even as she surrendered to sleep, falling easily back against him.

"I will never be so Blinded again Sakura...I promise..." He spoke into the night, hoping that his silent vow made it to her heart, even in nothingness.

* * *

 **Damn, I'm making myself cry... I'm getting too soft for my own damn good!**

 **Anywho! Thank you guys for all the positive reviews! You have no idea how much I love them! You all get Dango's! Well figuritive ones anyway, because I cannot send them to you guys! Please R &R! See you next time, and thank you for reading The Dango Gesture Chapter 6!**

 **Tenshi-Angel**

 **P.S. This is not the last chapter -lovesnaruto7**


	7. Chapter 7: Leaving Love

**Warning: This is a cute fluff filler chapter-will be vital for upcoming chapters though**

* * *

Sakura's Pov

Continue From Previous Chapter

"I am too."

"I beg to differ Uchiha."

"Please, you couldn't cook if it was to save your life, oh wait I forgot, you're dead."

"Oh wow, like I haven't heard that one before."

"You can't taste either."

"What difference does that make?"

"You cannot possibly think that taste has nothing to do with cooking."

This was the conversation that Sakura woke up to. Rubbing her eyes tiredly she looked to the kitchen table, where she found two women. One was reading a paper, the other was tending to a small pig wearing a cute little vest.

The one that wads reading the paper was a busty blonde that looked ticked off, most likely from the bickering of the two men in the kitchen.

The other peeked at the larger chested woman, and subtly scooted her chair away.

Sakura wondered why, briefly and then decided that she better move away as well, for the blonde woman had multiple tick marks appear on her forehead simultaneously.

Before the two men could even continue to bicker, a chair was thrown at them, and it smashed into the wall directly behind them, throwing wood everywhere.

Sakura could've sworn that she heard the red-head mutter "My kin..." But didn't comment on it.

She made her presence known by stepping into the room, and all movement seem to cease.

Sakura suddenly felt unbelievably embarrassed, everyone was staring at her. Both women from the battle two days ago, she had yet to be formally introduced to either. The man whom she had fought before collapsing and feeling like utter shit. And Itachi, *Cue Inner's Dreamy Sigh*, and she suddenly remembered the most intimate way that they had been wrapped up in each other the night before, singing a tune that her mother had taught her. She woke this morning to find him gone, yet he had wrapped her securely in the blankets, and when she had woke up, a beady-eyed black crow was watching her very, very intently.

She hadn't felt the urge to give a little scream, and instead opted to stare at the bird for an impossibly long amount of time, and then awkwardly wave until she received a caw. Said bird was sitting on her shoulder now, pecking at his feathers, preening himself.

"Ah, I'm glad that you are awake-" The blonde was interrupted by a loud crash that echoed outside of the large house, in the middle of the forest.

"GOD DAMNIT! I AM SO SICK OF BEING FORGOTTEN!" screamed Kisame from outside, stomping his foot, much like a child. (Me being the idiot that I am, completely left him out of the previous chapter-I'm actually very sad about that!)

"Oh god..." Said both Itachi and Sasori simultaneously. Itachi left his place in the kitchen and made his way to the door, Sakura would've missed the glance that he'd cast her if she hadn't been paying attention to him. Her cheeks darkened at the thought that she'd been caught, and she looked away, flushed and furious.

She missed his smirk.

He opened the door and outside stood Kisame, tapping his foot impatiently. Itachi stared at him for a moment before pulling out a bottle and handed it to him.

Kisame gasped before snatching the bottle. "Is this Honey Sake?! And from Matsumura?!"(A.N. I use this nickname often, along with the first name Minata, Minata Matsumura, it's my alter ego!) He screeched and proceeded to cradle the bottle most preciously. His eyes taking on a shine as Itachi dragged him into the house by his cloak and deposited him at the table, right next to Tsunade.

Said woman sighed and looked back at the minorly flushed Sakura. "As I was saying," She cast a seething scowl at Kisame, who promptly ignored her. "I see that you've woken up, please come join us for breakfast, and we shall discuss matters." Although her voice was calm, she was a little pissed off. This girl, Haruno Sakura, daughter of Kizashi and Mebuki Haruno, had been reported dead a couple of years ago, although it hadn't been a case when she was instated as Hokage, it was still an issue that had been brought up by Naruto-Gaki* way too many times.

The girl cautiously stepped toward the table and sat closet to Kisame, even going as far as moving a chair next to him. The missing-nin seemed to take notice of this and subtly shifted closer to the young girl, for which Sakura was grateful.

Sakura saw the blonde sigh at her actions, but didn't bother to try and backtrack, she needed no justifications for her actions, not in this case anyway.

Call her a brat, but she deserved the right to feel cautious.(I don't know if that is a real thing, but in this story it is!)

"My name is Tsunade Senju, I am the Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure-No-Sato, otherwise known as Tsunade-Hime. You may call me whatever you please, as long as it isn't 'Baa-Chan', I absolutely revolt that nickname!" She shook her fist at Sakura, despite the clear affection in her eyes.

Sakura had always been one to respect her elders, so the thought had never crossed her mind, and she would never call someone that unless they pissed her off good enough.

She nodded her head, but looked to Itachi, she didn't know whether or not to introduce herself or to stay silent. He met her eyes instantly, and he came next to her and placed his hand on her shoulder, he nodded and she gave him a look that screamed tiredness. Everyday spent running away was like having a couple of years taken off of her life. It was a process that she had gotten used to, but that didn't mean that she liked following the process.

"I am Sakura, it is a pleasure to meet you Tsunade-Sama, and I thank you for helping to save Itachi." She had to stop herself from saying '-Kun' she couldn't afford for Itachi to get hurt because she held him close to her heart. Having things taken from you was apart of the job as a ninja, you weren't supposed to let them go without a fight, or without sadness, but that didn't mean that you just let them die. Sakura wasn't too sure that she was ready to let Itachi go, just yet, if ever.

"Yes, I know very well who you are, Naruto spoke of you when I first became the Hokage, he kept insisting that I could bring you back. Because I am a medic-nin, I told him that there was no possible way to bring you back from the dead. But it seems that I won't have to tell him that anymore, now will I?" Her tone was biting, and accusing, and Sakura wanted nothing more than to crawl under the floorboards.

Then her anger got the better of her and quickly reminded her that her actions were justified. She was going to be assassinated! This women hadn't the slightest clue what she had gone through! Sakura was about to say her thoughts but Itachi beat her to it.

"I would watch your tone if I were you Hokage-Sama..." He stood against the doorframe that separated the kitchen and the dining room, his arms crossed over his chest, and his eyes but beautiful pinwheels of death, ruby red and undeniably gorgeous.

She didn't look taken aback, or frightened, but condescending if anything else. Her mouth quirked up in a smirk that everyone noticed, as the air became dense and it became painfully hard to breath. Both of their eyes met, Red against Hazel, in a battle of wills, neither refusing to back down.

Sakura herself was scared, but not in fear of her own life, in fear for Itachi's. She knew it foolish, he could very well take care of himself, that much she knew quite well. It was the power that this woman showed without even trying. She had that aura that demanded respect and attention, someone strong, someone who emanated power.

She stood up abruptly and looked at the woman defiantly, she couldn't very well sit by and let Itachi fight her battles for her. Hell, the entire reason that she left was to not be killed, she could take care of herself! She didn't need any man, especially Itachi (no matter how flattering it was!), sticking up for her.

She had this.

"For your information," She started off, and she had to take a deep breath as she faced the woman, scared shitless as she was. "My reasons for leaving were justified, and I do not see why you need to know them. Hokage or no, you have no room to speak in this area, and I would greatly appreciate it if you would very politely, fuck off." She knew that her hands were shaking, could feel the little vibrations shake her to her core, yet there she stood, she then strode into the kitchen, no longer able to hold the woman's gaze, in fear that she may melt into a puddle on the floor.

She didn't get the reaction that she'd been expecting, Tsunade began to smile, and Kisame laughed at Sakura's display of fervor. Sasori smirked,and chuckled lightly, and Shizune looked on the verge of a heart attack. Itachi gave the briefest of smiles before turning his body slightly and he had the audacity to wink at her! The man clearly was crazy, her heart could only take so much! It was beating a mile a minute! Sakura had to force down the urge to hyperventilate. She would've had a panic attack right then had Tsunade not begun to talk again.

"I like your spunk kid, Naruto was right, you are feisty!" The woman paused to let out a short laugh, "I'll let you explain it to me if you want. You don't have to, I was just testing you kid." Tsunade turned around and looked back at her newspaper, she flipped it open and shouted into the kitchen. "I don't smell breakfast Uchiha!"

Sakura smiled, she quiet liked this woman. She was respectable, and as Sakura helped Itachi and Sasori cook she couldn't help but think that she was nice.

* * *

Definitely. Not. Nice!

She took it back! That woman was a she devil! Sent straight from hell! Her body was covered in bruises and she had at least three broken bones! She hurt like hell! Itachi! Oh, she was even more pissed off at him than she was at the she-devil! He was the one who instigated it! and he hadn't even watched her! Not that she was complaining because she'd thoroughly had her ass handed to her, no doubt about it. But still! If he gave a damn then why wasn't he out here?!

Now she was sitting here as this she-devil repaired her broken wrist and bruised ribs.

"Now for the leg!" Tsunade announced gleefully.

"Huh?" Sakura didn't have time to comprehend what was happening, before her leg was painfully set back in place and a scream erupted from her mouth. Oh that bitch! Fucking hell! That hurt so badly! But she would not cry! And keeping to her word tears only welled in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. It was one thing to have them, it was a whole 'nother thing to show them.

Itachi I hope that you're in severe pain right now!

Little did she know that Itachi was huddled in the kitchen, his back pressed against the cabinets, rocking back and forth slowly.

"It's for her own good..." He whispered and a perturbed Kisame and Sasori stood watching him as he went senile at the humble age of nineteen.

"Hey Sasori?" Kisame asked, hsi eyes not leaving Itachi for a moment in fear that he may collapse.

"..Hm?" He leaned against the doorframe leading into the kitchen and crossed his arms over his chest. You may be thinking, how in the hell is his body repaired?! Well in their short amount of time here, Sasori had repaired his body minutely, and had been waiting until Itachi was better. He'd been good enough to continue for a while, but he was not satisfied with how he had to limp on the right side of his body. This would make traveling a huge pain in the ass.

"Do you know where they keep the popcorn?" Kisame asked, his eyes still trained on Itachi.

He slowly turned his head to look at the man, and gave him a deadpan stare.

He walked out of the room, leaving a fish and a psychopath.

Had Sasori known this is where he would be all these years later, he might've reconsidered.

Just then Tsunade dragged in a whimpering Sakura and uncerimonaly dropped her on the kitchen floor. Sakura immediately stopped whimpering and Itachi stopped looking like he should be wearing a helmet.

They stared at each other for a moment before Sakura looked away and sat up. Huffing as she tried to stand and then walk.

"No! Don't walk on it! You could-"

SNAP!

A withering Sakura fell to the floor just as Sasori caught her.

"break it again..." Tsunade finished after the damage had been done.

Sakura was trying with all her might not to cry out in pain, and Sasori could see it. He shifted into a sitting position, holding her calf gently in his hand. He lightly picked up her leg and readjusted her in his lap. He knew that she must be in pain, he just didn't fathom how much pain, he himself couldn't feel pain.

He did his best attempt not to laugh at the young girl's expression, her face was still turned away from Itachi, and she had such pain in her eyes and entire face being scrunched up. He couldn't hold back the little snicker that escaped him.

This did not go unnoticed by Itachi either, and his eyes narrowed perceptively, his gut settling to become heavy. He didn't like this, his body could tell, and he wanted it to stop. But right now his biggest priority was Sakura's pain, which needed to be handled directly and carefully. Begrudgingly he stepped away and let Tsunade through, only so she could amack the girl on the back of the head, pull her ear and give her a lecture on how to properly rest her leg. He knew that Tsunade had healed it with her chakra, so it should've been fine. His guess was that she had left it a little tender in order to allow Sakura's body to heal the 'normal' way, well as normal gets in the ninja world anyway.

Sasori had taken Sakura somewhere else, and Tsunade followed. They went to the small living room, and set Sakura on the couch. Tsunade had lit her hands in her healing chakra and settled them on her leg. His Sharingan activate immediately, better to have her technique than not. You never know when you could be about to die. During the time that Tsunade was healing Sakura, she pressed down on her leg a little to tightly and Sakura gave out a whimper, and instinctively grabbed for the nearest thing, which so happened to be Sasori's hand.

He felt it, like he had never felt it before. It surged through his veins and Itachi had to flex his fingers to keep from strangling the redhead. He felt his fingernails bite into the skin of his palm and didn't even flinch. His eyes were to busy glaring the absolute shit out of the side of Sasori's head. How dare he, after he had actually been about to kill her not even two days ago, hold her hand and be her support! He was her fucking support! He had been there when she had told him about her father, and all the Konoha bullshit!

He would've turned and stomped out of the room, just so he could kill a couple hundred trees with his bare hands. But her face stopped him. She was in pain. Not in her right state of mind. She was in pain. _You foolish man,_ He thought bitterly, _she's hurting, and you're over here acting like a jealous child. Pathetic..._

 _ **(I guess I'm just gonna switch over to Itachi's pov now eh?)**_

He stepped up behind Tsunade and he felt her tense. Good, he thought, perhaps that will teach her.

He reached over and clasped her other hand in his, she had him, and he wouldn't let her be alone any longer.

"Sakura-Chan?" He said softly, pink tinting his cheek's as his one word settled upon him.

He'd called her Sakura-Chan...

He wouldn't allow himself to be humiliated even as she stopped, her pain forgotten, and stared deep into his eyes.

He almost felt like her eyes could penetrate his soul, but then he remembered that he was supposed to be doing something.

"It will be over soon, don't worry..." He gave the smallest of smiles. He still had a reputation to uphold ya know?

Everyone else had stopped as well, he didn't have to try hard to notice that, it was as plain as day.

He sighed and mouthed something to her.

"...I'm here..." Her eyes had widened and he winked at her for added effect. Her face erupted in crimson, and she looked away to try and keep it away from him. He laughed quietly before allowing Tsunade to concentrate.

 **Bipolar much?**

 _Oh, god! Not you! I thought that you died!_

 **What would give you that idea?!**

 _You weren't featured in the last chapter._

 ***Awkward Silence* *Inner Itachi turns to look at computer screen***

 **WTF is wrong with you?!**

 ** _It's not my fault! Ahh! Stop bullying me! Itachi!_**

 **Itachi can't help you! Why the hell did you leave me out of the last chapter!?**

 _ **Hey! Don't get pissy with me just because you decided to be a lazy ass!**_

 **'Pissy'?! I don't get 'Pissy'!**

 _ **Well guess who has the keyboard under their fingers.**_

 **...Fuck you...**

 _Be quiet! God damn! I'm trying to be in reality thank you!_

The real Itachi had finally turned back to the situation at hand and watched as Sakura sat up, her hand dropping from his own. He still felt the warmth from her small fingers curling around his own, and it made his stomach do flips.

He watched as Tsunade stood up, her high heels making a clicking sound as she stretched, lifting her arms above her head, and waiting for them to crack.

Sasori sat against the recliner opposite the couch that Sakura lay on.

Looking at all of it, Itachi remembered that he had absolutely no idea where they were exactly.

"Tsunade-Hime, where are we exactly?" He used 'Hime' for added effect, he knew for a fact that using her favored nickname always put her in a good mood.

"Hm? Well Uchiha, we are at Shizune's and I's old safe house. We used it when we were in deep." She looked to Sakura, ignoring him now.

She seemed to stare at the girl forever, and it unearved Itachi a great deal. Her gaze would've bothered anybody really. He used to watch some of his fellow ANBU shake and quiver under her gaze, like lost puppies in need of some desperate attention. Sakura however didn't falter, or shake, or quiver. She sat still, waiting for what was to come next. He didn't know where she had or got the will to stand up to a woman of such power like Tsunade Senju, for that was one woman that nobody could cross, without having repercussions.

"Sakura, what is your motivation?" Tsunade asked suddenly, her voice having a curious edge to it.

Sakura looked at her very confusedly for about a minute before blinking and setting her brow in a line of determination.

"My motivation..my motivation is...?" Her voice faltered this time, and Itachi felt his heartbeat increase for her, he sure hoped that Tsunade-Hime had extra patience today.

Sakura took a deep breath before bowing her head. She looked almost ashamed as she spoke.

"My motivation is similar to that of revenge in a sense. I have many things that drive me. The most prominent being the death of Danzo Shimura." She stopped and he had a brief moment to enjoy Tsunade's eyes widening.

"My other drives are, to be strong, to never be looked down on again, to no longer be the weak link!" Her voice rose along with her head, and in those deep mint depths he saw raw determination, and he had never thought that she looked so beautiful.

They sat there like that for a while. Quiet and all staring at the intense staring contest that was happening. Finally Tsunade grunted and turned away, a smile on her features. Her face relaxed and her arms crossed over her bust. She sighed and looked out the window, looking to the slowly setting sun. It ignited her features like fire and Itachi wished that he had a camera.

He knew that Jiraiya would appreciate it.

"I guess I really don't have any choice then do I?" Tsunade shook her head once more, and turned back around. Looking straight at Sakura.

"Congratulations Sakura. You are now the apprentice of the Godaime Hokage. I hope that you learn well under my tutelage." Tsunade stuck out her hand and the entire room froze.

Itachi had just stopped thinking all together. This was absolutely outrageous, how dare she just decide that! She didn't even confront any of them! Although eh didn't like this, he knew deep down that it was for the best. He himself could only teach her so much, and even so, she wasn't at a level where she could learn any of it. Tsunade would be the best possible thing for her. He sighed, and waited for her answer.

She looked at the impatient woman's hand for the longest time, before looking at him. He knew that his features were schooled into that of a mask, and his arms were over his chest. Her eyes, although hopeful, were sad, and Itachi felt a pang in his chest at the sight.

 _Do it._ He said to himself. _It's for the best, this is what she needs to complete her goals_. He looked at her, all big doe eyes and soft features, sucking him in until there would be nothing left of him, the worst part was, he didn't mind at all. _No matter how much we love her, it would be wrong to enforce it upon her when this is what she needs._

He forced his neck to move, up and down, up and down.

Her face lit up like the night sky and she immediately shook the woman's hand, eagerly or not, what's done was done, and there was no going back.

She was so happy, he could see it in every essence of her being, she practically glowed. He couldn't keep the smile away form his own face. Her happiness is what mattered most. He had every intention that it stay that way as well.

He walked out onto the deck and watched as the sun went behind the mountain, seeing the first star appear. Seeing day and night mold into one, and then push the other away in fear of being caught together. He found it utterly beautiful, it was like each of them, at the end of a day, and at the beginning of one, said 'I love you...' showing their beauty. He closed his eyes as a breeze passed by him. So beautiful...

He felt the heavy footsteps next to him, and smelt the familiar scent of Sake. Kisame.

"Are you upset about it?" He asked, never one to beat around the bush.

He paused, better to give the truth rather than lie, especially when Kisame already knew the truth.

"I'd be lying if I said no, so yes, I am." He admitted calmly, he was relieved to tell Kisame, he didn't want to leave.

Not without her.

"I'm sorry Itachi, I know that you're gonna be sad, but remember, you were the one who told her to do it." Kisame smiled at him.

Itachi, a little annoyed at the fact that the fish man was indeed correct, glared at him.

"Your point being?" He said slowly.

Kisame laughed before walking towards the door.

"Love makes people do stupid things Itachi..." Then he was gone, and Itachi was left alone.

Alone with the heavens and the stars, who would only stare at him blankly.

He wondered if that was what Sakura felt like the first time he looked at her.

And then he wondered if the stars would someday be able to show their love to the daylight sky.

Just as he would to Sakura someday...

* * *

 **Finished with chapter 7 y'all! Look at me go! Damn I love myself! Hoorah! AWW SUCK IT! Jk jk!**

 **Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I got one earlier today that made me especially happy, so I went ahead and finished this up!**

 **Y'all can go and thank Emzy2k11, that's the boi that made this happen!**

 **See ya next time! R &R -lovesnaruto7**


	8. Chapter 8: Stupid Things

Itachi's Pov

Continue from Previous Chapter

* * *

Itachi woke from a fitful sleep, tossing and turning, it wasn't the first time. He rolled over and slipped his legs off of the side of the bed. His hair was in disarray, falling uncoordinatedly over his shoulders. He felt the open windows cold air against his back and felt goosebumps on his forearms. He sighed and placed his head in his hands. He ran his fingers through his hair and shook them until the silky locks felt rested instead of painful.

He breathed in deeply, or as deeply as his lungs would allow. He felt a coughing fit, but pushed it away before it could wake Sakura. He looked behind him to find her, turned away from him and her bottom half of her torso wrapped in the blanket. She was really out cold, wasn't she?

Alcohol would do that to someone as young as her. He remembered the first time that she'd come in contact with the distasteful substance. His mouth felt bitter and he had to throw the thoughts away before they got the best of him. At least this time she wasn't in the chance of being raped. He watched as she breathed deeply and exhaled, her back and chest moving with her.

He smiled slightly at the memory of only a few hours ago. They all drank to celebrate Sakura's recognition, as Kisame called it. Tsunade had insisted, he knew that the woman, being a lover of alcohol, would be thrilled by the idea.

He faced toward the window and found himself transfixed by the crescent moon, it's fingernail shape was alluring to him. How it could change with such ease mande him cringe, and he wished that reality was as easy as this was.

He stood and let the moonlight illuminate him. He knew that his posture was absolutely relaxed, and that made him smile. Tsunade had assured him that this place was secure, and he himself was positive of that after checking himself. The people around him were people that he respected greatly. The one that had been sleeping next to him more so than anyone else. He wouldn't say that she had completely received the brunt of his respect, but he made it a point to let her know that he cared about her.

He made his way to the add on bathroom and shut the door after him. He stared at himself, lightly tracing the stress marks on his face as he did so, they didn't look as deep as they did even a month ago, they used to be so deep he was almost afraid that they might consume his face.

He felt it hurling its way through his system again. His thoughts would remain unfinished for now, because he had to double over to try and hold his cough down. It was fruitless, he knew, but he didn't want to wake her.

It racked his whole body, and he shook with the violent need to hack and cough. His lungs hurt and it felt as if he was burning from the inside out. This always hurt so badly. It was similar to the Katon Jutsu, but so much worse. This made him want to keel over and die. This was a force that shook him to his core, and it hurt so badly.

He knew that when he opened his eyes, there would be blood, thrown about his face and hands, and most likely his stomach.

He was not disappointed, he hung onto the sink with all his power and forced himself to look up, finding what he had dread to come everytime that he did so.

The color red was an epitome of sadness to him at this point. It brought with it the memories that killed him from the inside out everyday.

He wished that he was color blind. It would make things so much easier, so, so much easier. He thought that maybe, if he didn't know what color blood was, then maybe it might've made things better, just maybe. But he knew that it was in every humans DNA to see that some colors meant danger, whether they were taught that or not. It was natural instinct to react to the color red with fear. It was how it was meant to be.

He shakily looked into the mirror, he found someone that wasn't who he wanted to be. It made him so sad on the inside, to know that this was who he was.

He found the blood everywhere, it was like he was painted in it, like this was his second skin that he was forced to wear, one that only he could see. It made him miserable to know that his pain would be shared by him, and only him, until the day that he died.

He was about to shake his head, before he decided it would do more bad than good. He just wanted this all to go away, everything to disappear, he wanted to go back to when he never knew about it. To the day that he had found out was one of the worst days of his life, and he wished he could do nothing more than forget it.

The burning feeling would just not go away, it seemed that he would need to clean up as well. He briefly looked down to find the sink covered in blood, the floor as well. It disturbed him how much blood had come out of him, it was like throwing up blood, but a lot more painful than it should have been. zhe couldn't even bring himself to sigh, it would hurt to much. Even as it was gathering in his throat, he decided that he needed to stop.

He couldn't stand up straight either, it would stress his lungs far to much. He looked to his Akatsuki cloak, which was hanging on the back of the door, from his shower earlier this morning. He reached for it and stopped short. He almost wanted to stop, but knew better. He grabbed it and opened it until he found the correct inner pocket. Rummaging through it for the correct bottle he found it. He'd be lying if he said it didn't look the slightest bit conspicuous. The bottle held his pills, the bottle was black, he found that it blended in with his cloak quite well very early on.

He popped the lid off an tipped it until two pills fell into his palm, the shiny exterior and broad white color had the bile rising in his throat. He placed them in his mouth, careful not to swallow them, before turning on the faucet and gulping down a ton of water. **(It is unbelievably hard to write right now, all the stupid ninth graders won't shut the hell up!)**

He could still feel the dry exterior of the pills grinding against the back of his throat, it hurt, not that it was a surprise. He turned off the faucet and clenched the handle tightly.

Itachi sighed and scratched the itch at the back of his head, having to go back to scratch it again. He looked at himself in the mirror and found that he looked a little more than dishealved. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed again. He shut the window that stood open and unbeknownst to him, his partner was outside watching him all the while.

Itachi grabbed a rag from the top shelf next to the shower and got a corner of it wet. He bent down and cleaned up the mess on the floor, feeling his knees crack as he stood back up. He looked into the sink, and yet once again turned on the faucet, splashing water and cleaning the entire thing. He didn't leave one drop of blood.

He had an odd case, he had been coughing up blood since he was thirteen, shortly after he had killed his clan. He had told himself that it was karma. He actually figured it out during his first mission in the Akatsuki. Although Itachi didn't like death, he was a little relieved that his partner had died during that mission. He had found Itachi, hunched over and coughing so hard he dropped to his knees in pain. Blood was all over the tree, the grass, and Itachi himself. It was a terrible first experience. His partner had told him to stay the fuck away, because he didn't want what Itachi had. He had told him also that he was going to inform Leader-Sama of his condition, so yes, Itachi was a little relieved that his first partner had died that day.

He stepped out of the bathroom, no longer wishing to stare into the mirror at someone that he didn't like.

He shut the light of with a soft 'Click' and turned around to stare out the window across the room. The little light that Itachi could see from where he was standing was a soft silver. He walked closer until he could fully see the moon. He crossed his arms over his chest and watched it, everything seemed so peaceful. He heard Sakura's soft breaths and it eased his conscious severely. He only wished that everything would be ok. That in maybe in some alternate universe, where his family was alive, Sasuke didn't hate him, and he still had Sakura, forever standing by his side, until the day he died.

 **That rymed...**

 _Ah.._

 **So, what're we gonna do?**

 _I don't know, I know that I have to get back to work. Tsunade-Hime informed me that they wouldn't be returning to Konoha. Sakura had told her about everything._

 **Uhh I know all that dipshit, I'm you, remember?**

 _Oh, well then why did you ask?_

 **...**

...

 **...**

...

 **You are retarded, literally mentally handicapped...**

Itachi shook his head, and chased the voice away. Pushing it until it was but a minute hum in the back of his head. He closed his eyes, and let his upper torso bask in the moonlight. Before he laid back down, and rolled over. He wrapped his arms around Sakura, and pressed his nose into her neck. He didn't care if this is what they were caught like in the morning. He wanted this, he hoped that she did too. And if nothing else, he'd get to wake up to her beautiful face tomorrow morning. He felt her soft hair with his nose and lips, loving how it felt against his skin. He closed his eyes and then let oblivion take over, where he was no longer haunted by nightmares, because she was with him.

* * *

The Next Morning

He felt warm. Very warm when he woke up. He hadn't bothered to open his eyes, he just let his other senses work for him. Feel, soft and squishy, he knew that was Sakura. Scent, vanilla and strawberry, Sakura also. Sound, soft breathing and the low rustle of sheets, Sakura. He didn't want to taste her, he felt like that would be crossing a line, and definitely make him a pedophile.

She seemed to be everything right now. Every little thing reminded him that she was there.

Alas this peaceful time was not to be kept. A very loud noise was coming from downstairs. Yelling and crashing, he had to wonder what it was. Sakura didn't even stir, she really had drunk quite a bit when he wasn't watching, didn't she?

He finally figured out that he and his beautiful sleeping companion would not stay this way of people continued to make noise. Opening his eyes, he was met with the color pink and beige. She stood out and he smiled before placing his elbows underneath him, careful when removing his arms from underneath her.

He watched her for a moment and tuned out the incessant noise around him. The only word that came to mind was 'Angle'. Nothing else would fit.

When a particularly loud crash came from downstairs, Itachi growled lowly and swung his legs down onto the hardwood floor. This was ridiculous.

He didn't bother to hide his annoyance as he came down the stairs, he watched as Kisame and Sasori talked hushedly between each other.

Behind a couch...

Tsunade stood in the middle of the room and yelled, he only caught little pieces of what she was saying, before it clicked

"What do you mean he's coming here?!" "Are you stupid?!" "Go stop him!"

Leader-Sama...

It could only be, yet everything in Itachi prayed for it to not be. He quickly flash-stepped behind the couch, quickly inquiring about the situation.

"It's Leader-Sama he-" Itachi didn't need to hear more, he was upstairs before any of them could blink. He needed to get Sakura out of here. If anything happened to her, he would die. Whether it was from suicide, or from slow depression and malnourishment. He had his cloak off of the hook in the bathroom and threw it on, not bothering with a shirt. He grabbed the elastic band from the sink and threw his hair back, the customary bangs finding their original place amongst his face. He slipped on his shinobi sandals, putting the long boot-like case, that came with every Akatsuki uniform, around his legs.

He was having a hard time trying to decide if he wanted Sakura to be with him, or if he wanted her as far away from a man like Pein.

You didn't fuck with their Leader, he'd made that very clear on many occasions. Itachi didn't even know what would happen in a situation like this.

It was then that he heard a very loud crash from downstairs and he was right behind Kisame and Sasori before they could blink.

"Hey wassup bitches!?"

* * *

Sakura's Pov

When Sakura had opened he reyes, she had found Itachi standing completely still in the room. He was looking into oblivion. Sakura searched his body for wounds but found nothing but a fully clad Akatsuki member standing in her room. Fear coursed through her, dark and draining. He was leaving. He was leaving her. No, not yet. She didn't want to let him go yet. Even if she only had five more minutes with him, she'd take it. Anything to keep him implanted in her memory a little longer.

She was about to speak, but a loud eruption from downstairs made her stop, and when she blinked, Itachi was gone.

"Hey wassup bitches!?"

One thought ran through her head.

Who the fuck was that?

She flipped herself off of the bed quickly reaching for any article of clothing she could find. She found one of Itachi's large shirts on the dresser and threw it on over her tanktop and shorts. She didn't want to look indecent. She was a lady, maybe not by some peoples standards, but eh, what the hell ya gonna do?

She slipped down onto the stairs and found that she couldn't hear a thing. All was silent, except for a tapping noise that Sakura couldn't seem to make out.

She hid herself just behind the wall, waiting for anything to happen. She knew that there were people in the house. She could feel everyone's chakra. Including the one of the person that she didn't know.

Diversion first, she thought strategically. Perhaps she could use the enemy's silence to her advantage. She took the kunai that she grabbed from upstairs-it had been underneath Itachi's shirt- and held it tightly, not moving from her crouching position. She gave a quiet breath and closed her eyes. No room for hesitation, she thought panicking. She threw the object and it hit the window, Sakura hadn't expected as much as she got, because the window smashed to bits when the weapon hit it. Not wasting any time on wondering what the fuck just happened, Sakura lunged out and using what she saw her new mentor do, gathered chakra into her fist.

Tsunade had a different way of doing it than she did. Sakura hadn't considered the fundamentals of the hand. With every finger their would be more power, Sakura herself had only been adding chakra to the brunt of her fist, never expanding it any further than that. Now that she had been told what she could do, she wouldn't hold back. Even when she had first developed the move-although she''d based it upon the Legendary Slug Sannins move yes- it didn't do much, nor did she ever tell anybody about it.

She felt her fist meet skin, then the sickening crunch of bone under her hand- it felt a little good to hear it- she sent the enemy flying through the open door. She heard the shocked gasps behind her, she just choose to ignore them- a little I mean she was smirking.

She ran out the door choosing to completely forget about shoes, she ran out and didn't give the man the opportunity to get up. She drop kicked him and his face fell right back into the dirt-clearly this man had not been expecting an attack- which was odd considering he was the one who broke into the house in the first place! She gathered chakra into her hand again and was about to land the finishing blow when a black tentacle grabbed her hand.

She gasped as she was thrown left, and was harshly pulled into something- the tentacles keeping her there. She felt the wind knocked out of her as she was crushed, the tentacles seeming to pull tighter every second. She barely managed to open her eyes, only to find another man standing there, a mask like thing on his face and green luminescent eyes staring back at her own. He was beautiful, was her first thought. In a roguish, mysterious, kind of way, but nonetheless, he was beautiful. He wore something over the top of his head, hiding almost everything from view. He adorned an Akatsuki cloak on his figure, along with the same trademark Akatsuki shoes.

"Hmm, I don't believe that we've met," "although you look familiar.." He whispered the last bit, but she still caught it. He looked at her using the tentacles to turn her around, they were protruding out of his back, they felt silky against her skin and she involuntarily shivered. It was like having furry ribbons dragged across your skin. The man seemed to notice her shiver- and his eyes shot to her own- tilting his head like a little puppy. "I am Kakazu." He walked closer, placing his hands on her neck. For some unknown reason, she wasn't disgusted by such a thing, in fact his hands were warm and calloused. He gave her a suspicious look before bringing his face closer to hers.

"Are you not afraid of me? Don't I disgust you?" He said it like it was the most common thing in the world. Sakura immediately shook her head no, sure he had tentacles that came out of his back, but every Shinobi had some odd feature- her pink hair for instance.

"God damn! That fucking hurt you know you pink-haired bitch!" The other voice didn't even deter her- her gaze was kept solely on those of Kakazu-unwavering.

Another sound entered her brain but she didn't turn, it was the sound of bones being reset. Not even a minute later-eye contact still had yet to be broken- another person joined both of them, only then did her eyes move away from Kakazu. The other one was displayed before her too. Torso open for her eyes to feast on, his own cloak hung around his hips, headband loosely tied around his neck. He had a red scythe swung over his shoulder, and an amulet that glittered in the sun. The symbol of Jashin- the god who demanded of his people human sacrifice. This man had Magenta yes and Silver hair, she would've mistaken him for old had it not been for his body.

He licked his lips when he looked at her, eyes traveling up and down her figure. He stopped back at her face and let one of his hands caress her unblemished cheek. "Wouldn't you be a beautiful sacrifice- I've seen better, but for how young you look..." He let the sentence rest and choose to trail his hand down her neck- just as his partner had. She didn't mind him either- she swore to god was very man in that organization so hot?! Because if so sign her up! No not really, but seriously.

he smirked and licked his lips as his head came closer to her neck. "And maybe we could have some fun before the ritual..." His tongue licked up her neck and another shiver went through her.

"Hidan!" Someone yelled- from the house form the sounds of it. Itachi she dedused after several seconds. She could hear the fast claps of his feet against the ground as he neared them. He grabbed the man invading her neck, by his hair and threw him away. He must've had more respect for Kakazu because he waited until the man put her feet on the ground, and began to remove the tentacles. Her legs felt like jelly, and the second her weight was fully put down, they buckled underneath her. Her first thought was, _The ground is gonna hurt like a motherfucker!_ The second was, _Itachi will catch me._ The third, which had been supplied by Inner was, **I hope Kakazu-Kun catches us!**

The third thought had been granted, for Kakazu-the one standing the closest- had caught her and steadied her, and her arms automatically found his for balance. Before she could even speak however he lifted her into his arms and began to trek towards the house. This entire situation had drained her, and she felt the need to fall asleep. But Inner screamed at her that if she did in fact fall asleep she would be considered weak, because she could handle so little. So fighting against her body's wishes, Sakura stayed wide awake, looking up at Kakuzu's masked face.

A couple hours later, when the situation had lal been explained, everyone sat on the couch. Apparently their Leader wanted to know their whereabouts, and the fact that they had yet to contact him was aggravating. So he sent the Immortal squad to seek out the three Akatsuki members who had yet to return to base. Sakura had profusely apologized to them(mostly to Kakazu because Hidan insisted that his form of an apology was sex).

"Well isn't this great!" Tsunade flopped down onto the couch next to Kisame and groaned, throwing her head back. "Now, not only do I have FIVE Akatsuki members in my home, their batshit-crazy leader is sending them here!" Tsunade aggravatingly pointed at Hidan who had made himself at home and was taking up an entire couch. He didn't even pay attention to her comment, instead he glanced up and found Shizune walking into the room. A devilish smirk decorated his features and he winked at her.

"Hey there gorgeous..." He gave her a hand to shake, Shizune only looked at him confused, not understanding what he was trying to do.(She is very dense in this story). She shook his hand cheerfully and smiled at him. He gave her an odd look, but otherwise continued to check her out while she wasn't looking, or was looking Shizune had no idea he was doing it anyway.

"Sakura." Itachi had been sitting on her left the whole time, yet he hadn't spoken. She looked to him instead of what Hidan was doing. He beckoned her forth with his finger and she followed him. He led her out to the back patio, taking her hand. He swayed lightly with the wind, pulling her to him. He buried one hand into her hair, and the other softly on her hip- as if the most natural action in the world to him.

She followed his train of thought and wrapped her arms around his neck, letting her head rest against the broad shoulders underneath her.

"Sakura, I need to tell you something..." He pulled away from her, and in turn caused her to pull away from him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and looked deeply into her orbs. She knew that this conversation had been long coming, she just didn't know that it would come so soon. She let her grip lax and brought his face into her hands. She knew that he didn't want to talk about it. But she did want to know.

"I just hope by the end of it you'll still look at me the way you do now..."

* * *

 **Here I go with the cliffhanger again- I'm surprised that you haven't quit yet~**

 **Omg I am so sorry for the lack of update- we just had midterms.**

 **I love everyone who read or reviewed! I'd love you anyway but still!**

 **Till next time -lovesnaruto7**


	9. Chapter 9: The Uchiha's Sorrow

(This chapter will be in first person, but with Itachi telling Sakura the story)

"It was a cold night, mid July. I'd been a spy, a traitor to my kin. I knew that this was the best choice of action, the only way, because no one would listen."

* * *

 _I walked up to the closed gates of the Uchiha compound. I didn't want to do it. I'd walked up to those gates with sorrow in my heart, holding back emotions that tried to break through to the surface. I slipped on my ANBU mask and shushined over the gates. By this time only the Uchiha elders and the Police Force would be awake. Many thought that I'd done it by myself, that I could've created such a massacre all alone. I hadn't, I had help that night. You wouldn't have been more than five or six. That man had promised to take care of my subordinates, my duty had been to eliminate the civilians._

 _I remember distinctly the first person that I killed. You may think that it was a terrible thing to hold onto, but my soul wouldn't let go of it. It was young girl, she had been sleeping, I realized that it was my distant cousin, Shisui's little sister. When I had seen her like that I wanted to slit my throat instead. Nothing had to be worse than killing my best friend's family. I decided that she shouldn't have to die in only occured to me later that death would be a release for this poor girl. I awoke her and put her under a Genjutsu, one where her parents and Shisui were all alive. I did it quickly. I didn't want to look at her. I couldn't look at her. I felt her blood on my hands, but I didn't bother wiping it away. This was my punishment. I smelt the scent of blood seeping through the floorboards. I watched as it did so. I didn't bother to cover or close my eyes, what would the difference be at the end anyway? This was my reality._

 _It dawn on me then that I heard nothing. No one. And then I remembered, and the saddest part of the whole situation was that no one was going to come through that door wondering what was happening, because all of her close family had been killed, or killed themselves. I knew that she believed that Shisui killed himself, she knew that I would never kill him, much less hurt him. Nobody was going to **try** and stop me, because they **couldn't** stop me. I panted at the intense wanting to throw up. I had to do this. Something in the back of my head urged my feet towards the door, I will never tell anyone but that **thing** enjoyed the blood that I spilt, it reveled at all the peoples' eyes rolling to the back of their heads'. I realized then that this **thing** was **me.**_

 _The rest of the night had turned into a blur, blood painted the streets, the homes of people once smiling and laughing. Baby's, children, mothers', fathers', brothers and sisters. Entire family's wiped away by my hand. This world was so disgusting, I was disgusting. The spawn of something that should've been dead years ago! I hated what I was, what I had become. A pawn in game of life and death that I didn't want to play. Every body hit the floor with the same thump, the same splatter when the blood was splayed everywhere. After a while it was easy it seemed. I tried not to let it get to me, but I remember everything. I would forever be painted in the blood of my family, a red flag among a sea of white. I was forced to accept something that I didn't want._

 _My home was what I had come upon next. My father was, in my head, the strongest opponent that I would have to face. I remember falling into step with the shadows of my home. The sky ignited in red. I wanted nothing more than to rip my heart out of my chest, so maybe I wouldn't have to feel what was to come. I felt a floorboard creak under my weight and cursed._

 _When I looked up I found my father standing there, his eyes the same blood red as my own. His stance wasn't defensive, it was lax. He knew what was coming just as well as I did. "Come inside Itachi, there are no traps..." He stepped into our main room. That was where I found them, sitting, waiting. My mother and father, sitting right next to each other, waiting for their lives to end._

 _I covered my mouth, I couldn't do this. Tears pricked my eyes as I fought to get my emotions under control. My breathing hitched in my throat and my heart seized._

 _My mother's soft voice had woken me from my stupor._

 _"Itachi-Chan dear, come here, please..." She turned to look at me and gave me that smile- the one that always made me smile. I couldn't hold it in anymore, I cried out as I staggered forward. i hit the floor and my knees stung. I sobbed and my eyes burned. I screamed out, no one could hear me anyway._

 _I now find it ironic that when I had been at my weakest, my family had been at their strongest for me. My parents, although they had not agreed with my decision, had told me that they were proud of me._

 _"Itachi," My father had been turned around the whole time, staring into nothing. "I know that what you are doing is not what you want." Him talking only made me cry harder, because what he said was true. I didn't want this. My father and I rarely ever talked, but I wasn't surprised when he told me that, because he loved me, and knew me better than anyone else. "I know that you did not have a choice in this." No I didn't. I didn't have a fucking choice. Because I refused to watch as my family was murdered by another, knowing that I could've done something. "But just know my son, we are proud of you. I am proud of you." I screamed when he said that, pulling at my hair and making my hands tremble and bleed. I had never been good enough for him it always seemed. Yet here he was telling me that he was proud of me._

 _I cried and curled into myself, my voice breaking as I did so. My stomach hurt, my throat was raw, my eyes stung, my heart bled. I wanted death. I wanted it whereas everyone else ran from it. I let out a low sob as I felt my mother stroke the top of my head lovingly. Her hands pried away my fingers and smoothed my hair away. I grabbed my Tanto, watching my hands shake before my vision went blurry again. I took multiple deep breaths to calm myself, but my efforts were fruitless. My breathing came out in short bursts, it was like having the wind knocked out of me._

 _My mother had turned away from me and looked at my father. He looked at her as well. They didn't do anything cliche, they didn't kiss one last time because they knew that it would be harder on me. They knew that them doing such an action would only signify that they were letting go of this pitiful world. That they were moving from hell to heaven, they knew it too. They only looked at each other and smiled. My father reached over and took my mother hand, gripping it softly._

 _"We love you Itachi," My mother spoke to me softly, smiling her eyes closed. "even in death we will watch over you." She gripped my father's hand back, bringing it to her lips and kissing the back of it. The sight made me want to kill myself. How can I do something like this? Something so terrible, something so disgusting it would make the gods' themselves weep. With all amount of willpower that I had left I stood, my legs shaking more than the first time I tried to walk. I spread them evenly to keep the weight under me._

 _"Just promise us one thing Itachi..." My father spoke, closing his eyes as well. I looked at the floor, I couldn't look at the people that I loved. I couldn't look them in the eye before they died. I couldn't tell them that I loved them one last time, because then it would all be real, tomorrow I'd wake up and what I'd done would be real. But this time it didn't matter, because no matter what this was going to be real. I would wake up everyday from today and I would repent for what I had done. Because it was what I deserved._

 _"Please, look after Sasuke..." He spoke, I heard the crack in it, he knew reality just as well as I did. I ground my teeth together in my effort to keep everything away, like maybe if I did this, then everything would disappear. Maybe if I closed my eyes, this would all just be a nightmare that never really happened. Maybe if I threw my hands over my ears, then maybe I'd go deaf, maybe I wouldn't hear the man that I'd envied and hated my entire life cry to the gods. Maybe if I slit my throat I would wake up in someone else's body, remembering but trying to forget, going day by day in a world that revolved around me because I was no one important. Itachi Uchiha would be dead to everyone, and in his place would be the shadow of a man that never really existed, that doesn't exist, that will never exist- all because I will him not to._

 _"I will father, mother..."_

 _I threw down my arms then, I saw the fabric tear, heard the skin rip, felt the blood against my hands. My eyes wide I fell to the floor, blood all around me. I didn't die, because this wasn't the world that I wanted to be real. This wasn't the world where I died. This wasn't the world where I was everything and nothing all at once. This was the world where I was the pawn, where I was sacrificed, where my family died, where my subconsciousness hides. I knew that I was crying. I knew everything it seemed. I could feel the hot tears stream down my face. I could hear the footsteps outside as well. Sasuke. He was home. My little brother was home, and I needed to finish this._

 _My legs seemed to move on their own, my hands as well. I felt them wipe away my tears, standing halfway into the shadows, waiting for everything to set door slammed open, Sasuke crying for his parents, before he saw them. His face turned pale. I remember watching his eyes turn to me, waiting for an answer. He knew what had happened._

 _"Big Brother...Why?! What happened?!" He shook at his effort to remain calm._

 _My lips had moved too, the only words that came from me that night were ones that I would forever regret._

 _"My foolish brother… If you want to kill me… curse me! Hate me! And live a long and unsightly life… Run away… run away… and cling to your pitiful life. And then some day, when you have the same eyes as I do, come before me..." Those words haunted my nightmares. I fled the house, leaving my little brother in the realm of nightmares. I barely made it to the street before a kunai knocked my forehead protector to the ground. There sat Sasuke, his eyes transformed into our family's' bloodline limit, holding his shoulder- looking every bit the crushed soul I'd left behind._

 _I began to cry right then, it was that cliche moment, the one that I'd been talking about. Twin tears had streamed down my face, the moonlight only emphasizing their presence. Sasuke collapsed, and I had to stop myself from running to him right then. My little brother had been the world to me, and right then my world had crumbled to the ground. My heart had stopped because to me I no longer had one._

 _I left him there, knowing that the other ANBU would be here soon. I remember the distinct thought that passed through my head right then._

 _'This life is not worth it...'_

 _I remember slipping on my mask, unable to stop crying. I found the masked man who had helped me on the Hokage Monument then. His figure had made my entire being ignite in hatred. I knew that it was wrong, because I myself was not innocent, but, and perhaps this was my way of coping with things, but I blamed everyone else. I blamed Madara. I blamed the clan. I blamed the council, all because I didn't feel that it was my fault. Even though I knew that it was a lie. I was to blame for the murder of hundreds of innocents. He stood straight as the wind tousled his short locks._

 _"Is it done?" He hadn't even faced towards me, instead looking at the blood painted sky._

 _I merely nodded, I didn't trust my voice._

 _"Good..." He used Kamui, leaving me there, his final parting words to me were- "Then everything is going according to plan..." I didn't comprehend his words, because I really was a pawn, pawns were not to interfere with higher purposes._

 _I fell to the ground, my mask slipping away. I held myself up with my hands, I started laughing. I laughed so hard that I began to cry. This world was so nasty to me. So absolutely disgusting. I was no better. How could I be? The undeniable sin had been burnt into my skin forever. I was tainted, buried under the bodies of my family. Soaked with the blood of my partners. Haunted by the eyes of my victims._

 _That night, I had given up on the chance of being anything. I was nothing, and if I did nothing but wait, then time would pass me by, and I would wait for the day that my little brother would shove his hand through my chest cavity, giving me the peace that I didn't deserve._

 _I had promised myself, as I looked up into the sky that night, that even as a pawn, I would do everything in my power to bring justice to those that deserved it._

 _Demons aren't supposed to be set to rest, I told myself, my heart ceasing to beat for anything more than the death that would await me at the end of this life._

* * *

"That night, I had taken everything from myself, all for the sake of peace." Itachi finished speaking, and hung his head. "I will understand if you run away now. If you get scared, if you never want to see me again, just know that I..." He had told her. She now knew everything, and there was no going back. "I..." He'd never told anyone his true feelings on the matter. Perhaps it was because of the fact that he couldn't, his mouth would become clamped shut the second the topic ever came up. But the ordeal that he had seen Sakura in earlier had made him think. She had been entranced by Kakazu, and that had automatically pissed him off, yet he did not show his true feelings on it.

 **Again...**

It made him see that she may not be there forever. That his chance may slip through his fingers, and that scared him. He sighed as he turned away from her, he knew what her face would be. He didn't want to look at it. Didn't want to feel the sorrow that would definitely come afterward. He found that if he didn't look at his victims, it was easier not to feel everything that came with it. He felt her touch his shoulder, his body automatically flinched away. He felt her hold tighten.

What had happened then will forever be imprinted into his mind. He had been flung through the yard and had hit at least twenty trees, the impact knocking the wind out of him. He gasped in pain at his broken jaw before he closed it, the pain becoming even worse. He heard stomping but couldn't lift his head from the debris that he was lying on.

He felt himself get picked up by the collar. The lack of air making him suffocate.

"Is that it? You think that I'm just gonna run away?" He heard her try to gather breath, feeling it against his face. He opened his eyes, only to find tears running down her own.

"Do you think, that I'm-I'm some sort of-of...!" She struggled with her words as she began to tremble, the sight making Itachi feel more pain.

 _No matter what the outcome,_ he told himself, _this had to happen, and we're better off because of it..._

"Do you think that I'm that kind of person?!" She screamed, shutting her eyes and shaking him lightly- like all her strength had left her.

"I will never leave...baka..." She dropped him there on the forest floor then, and began to walk away.. He distinctly remembered how the grass felt underneath his skin right then. Like needles piercing his skin, imprinting and hurting. Annoying and useful. He remembered seeing the back of her bare feet, slowly leaving him. Walking away slowly, but far too fast for him.

 _No,_ he thought beginning to panic, _please, you can't leave me too!_

His Sharingan had turned itself on in his panic, and he didn't bother to shut it off.

At that moment, Itachi wasn't quite sure, but a force had pulled him to his feet, despite all the pain he felt. It was like watching a movie in slow motion. His feet slowly hitting the ground, the grass lightly letting in under the weight of him. The slow rise of the wind against his face and hair, blowing it into his face yet letting his eyes still see the goal that would forever throughout time be imprinted into him. The soft smell of cherry blossoms hitting his nose, as spring came upon them it became more important. She was leaving him-just as winter was leaving them now, beautiful in a painful way. It hurt to love it so because of how much pain it held, and it had no choice but to push its pain off onto others because it could no longer hold the responsibility. Spring was coming to take her away from him. And as the buds of pink clouded his vision then he wrapped his arms around the thing that he would forever love most in this world- this world that was filled with disgusting things, yet this one thing- the thing that he loved most- was pure, and beautiful.

And he loved her.

He..

Loved her...

"I love you, Sakura, Watashi no ai..."

If you were to ask Itachi Uchiha what the meaning of love was, he would tell you that it is a very simple thing. It can be found in places that you'd never expect, from a hotel, to a forest, to a house in the middle of nowhere. Love is fickle, it can be taken, it can be given, it can be anywhere that you want it. In your head, in your hands. It is anywhere that you see it, and with everything that happens to someone, whether it is loss or gain, you find some things more valuable than others.

Love more so than anything.

Soft cries emitted from a girl with soft long pink hair then, when the cherry blossoms fell, and the wind blew her tears towards them.

"I-I.." Long lean arms wrapped around a waist that had never been touched by anyone that wasn't him, holding, wanting, loving arms that asked for nothing more than forgiveness.

What if time stopped right now. And he would be stuck with this girl forever, holding waiting for an answer that could make him live or die. Stuck in between the thin lines of love and hate.

"I'm so happy...you love me?" He could only nod, hope rising in his chest, hammering against his heart until he could no longer wonder if he was alive or dead. Panic hitting him in the stomach, he felt that cliche moment thing coming at him again.

She cried long and hard, wails coming from her as if this was her first day on this Earth, and he only held her tighter, hoping like heaven and hell that she would just stop crying, if only to ease his heart a little.

"I, I'm so sorry..I-I love you! I love you so much!" Those words, the ones that he'd dreamt about. Had they really come from this girl? The one with the startling pink hair, and vibrant mint-green eyes that made his heart jump in his chest.

"When I first met you, you were nothing but a stranger, a man in front of me in line. But-but you showed kindness to me! After I had taken everything from MYSELF! I wanted nothing but a friend in that moment! A-and there you were!" Her cries blended into her speech, but itachi didn't mind, he just listened.

"You-you had given me something to work toward! I didn't know it, b-because I didn't want to think about w-what would happen if I did l-love you! But here I am! WHen we were in the forest, when we were attacked, I only wanted to protect you! I wanted you to be safe! No matter what!" She had hunched over and he could see her tears get swept up in the wind. "I love you! I'm sorry that I do! But I can't stop it! I can't! I love you Itachi Uchiha! With everything in me!"

Love was fickle. Love was kind. Love was beautiful.

But not as beautiful as her.

His hand cupped her face as he turned her around, weaving his fingers through her hair, and setting his eyes on hers. Emerald meeting Crimson, such a beautiful scene that was. The sun had casted a glow on those two then, waiting and watching for what was meant to be.

Lips met each other in a soft kiss, eyes closing and letting go.

"Let me take your sorrow...I'll hold onto it, because I love you. Because you love me. Because we were meant to be..." She whispered in his ear, and he into hers.

~*~*~*~*The End~*~*~*~*~

JK I would never!

So what do you think? I'm sorry that I have been gone, family problem...So! Do you like how they confessed?! Reviews people I need reviews! ( I'll give you ONE cookie!)

Love you guys! -lovesnaruto7


	10. Chapter 10: Meet Them Head On

_If you Leave me In this Shallow Reality_

 _Where Man and Beast Differ No_

 _Will I Live to see the Sunrise at the End_

 _As I watch your Blood Seep through Fingers Broken by Time_

 _Your Eyes become Distant as the Horizon that has no End_

 _Your Lips Breathe their Last Breath until Death do us part_

 _I'll hold your hand, My Love_

 _I will Weep for the Life that I once Loved so Dearly_

 _The Arms that used to Hold Me so Warmly_

 _I will Yearn for your Presence even in Death_

 _For you, Will Go Where I will not_

 _To a Place of Beauty_

 _Of Happiness_

 _Thou of Where I will not go_

 _My Love..._

"Wow...You made that for me?" Sakura asked, stepping away from Itachi's embrace. The acknowledgment that he had kissed her finally sinking in.

"Yes, just now. Do you like it?" He kept his head bowed wondering if what he had spoken would shift something.

Sakura smiled softly at his bashful behavior, tugging at his loose bangs she brought his eyes up to her own.

"I don't like it," His eyes showed hurt, and yet he smiled, expecting what she was to say next.

"I love it..." It was cliche, but she couldn't care less.

She wanted to do something for him, and the immense happiness that she felt after his lips met hers for the first time was such a rush, she idly wondered if she couldn't do the same to him.

She felt herself flush at the idea and she turned her head away a little, looking down. She jumped up onto her toes, and pulled the collar of his shirt down, molding his lips to her own. It made her entire body feel heated and tingles shot down her arms and spine. Her legs felt mushy and it took all of her effort to stay on them. He was surprised if it was anything because with a start he tried to back away, but she wasn't having any of that. She wrapped her arms around his neck possessively and pulled his body closer, the need to feel the heat from him becoming too much for her night-chilled arms to handle.

She gasped when she felt his tongue sweep over her bottom lip, asking for entrance, she was hesitant to allow such a thing, but then she remembered that she was the one to initiate the kiss. She was being a bit difficult, she could see from his agitated movements- he released her mouth in favor of her untainted neck. He placed light butterfly kisses there, along her jaw and slowly made his way down to her collar bone. He made his way back up and nipped playfully and her pulse. She jumped at the action and began to squirm at the feeling.

He darted his tongue out to soothe the little red spot beginning to form already. It glided easily over her skin, leaving a trail of saliva wherever it went. She bit back a moan at his ministrations and he nipped harder this time, hearing her try to fight against him.

He would have none of it.

She gasped and as soon as her mouth had parted his own was against hers. His tongue danced with her own, and she felt like turning into a puddle right then and there This was a lot to try and handle- especially since she had never been kissed previously to the time before this. It was a whole new thrilling, and endearing, experience for her. She let out a breathy moan when he did something with his tongue- she had no idea what, but damn did it feel _good_. When the need for oxygen became apparent they broke apart.

Breathing heavily she bowed her head, feeling her face become even warmer somehow.

Oh god, she had never even done anything remotely like that before! Was she good? Was she really bad?! Would Itachi never want to kiss her ever again after this? She sure as hell hoped that he still would, because what kind of relationship would that be? With no kissing?

She looked up and hoped to find a happy face, even if it was just a smirk, that would work

Her anxiety increased with every passing second, small beads of sweat began to form on her skin, tears coming to her eyes, the shame that had yet to come already taking its toll.

When he did lift his head, tears streamed down his face, and his cheeks turned red minimally at the action. Her own eyes widened with disbelief, he was crying.

But for what?

"I-Itachi-Kun? A-are you okay?" Maybe it was foolish to think this at the time, but it had never really occurred to her how much smaller she was compared to Itachi.

Now while compared to Kisame, Itachi had a smaller body frame, but compared to her, he was huge. His shoulders were wide and his stance always seemed to make him bigger.

His hands completely dwarfed hers, and when comparing them, her finger tips barely hit the middle of his fingers.

When she was lifted off of the ground and spun around, she felt light. When she was placed back down on the ground with arms holding her tight, she felt heavy.

When she looked into the eyes of the man that she loved so dearly, she felt it all over again.

"You," he smiled at her, that dazzling, beautiful, breathtaking smile, "you, I'm crying because of you. You and your wonderful beautiful simply Sakura self." He leaned his forehead against hers and she gently brought her hands up to cup his cheeks.

"And you have no idea," she wiped away his tears with the back of her hands, "how happy it makes me to hear you say that..my Itachi-Kun..."Think her foolish, think her crazy.

But she had never been so happy, to have decided to jump off that cliff that day.

Never so happy that she had decided what was best for her rather than waiting on people who wanted her in the back.

Never so happy to have picked up that kunai that day, to have I'd seen the initials engraved into it, with the beautiful silk red ribbon tied around its hilt.

That happiness wouldn't be crushed by anyone.

Not by Naruto

Not by Sasuke.

Not by Kakashi.

Because this was her story.

And damn did she fucking work it.

When their lips met in that clash again, she felt powerful, like nothing could stop her. An insatiable feeling coursing through her blood. The image that they created was one of wholeness.

When their lips left each other, they felt the earth shake beneath them. A battle cry echoing from the forest, and the disbanded sound of an explosion shaking the trees around them.

"What was that?" Sakura asked, holding just a bit tighter to his shirt.

"I don't know," she could feel the grip on her waist and neck tighten just the slightest. "But whatever it was," his eyes stared at the sky, as if staring at it would help to access the situation a little bit more. "it wasn't good..."

Sakura herself found her eyes trailing up to the sky, and upon doing so, found a white object coming at them fast.

"Itachi! Look!" She pointed at the object and his eyes snapped up to it, widening as they did so.

A name ghosted upon his lips before the object could make it any closer.

"Deidara..."

He barely gave her time to think about it before he shoved her into the nearby tree line.

"Uwaaa, Itachi?!" She screamed as she was suddenly shoved, she turned back to him mildly agitated at the fact that he was pushing her away.

"Leave! Now! Go back to the house and assist them there! They'll need your help! I'll handle things here!" Instinct told her to gets her ass moving. Her brain screamed at her to listen to him. Her heart howled with the need to be next to him, fighting at his side.

"Now!" He hollered at her. She didn't waste another second, taking off into the tree line as fast as her feet could carry her, not once looking back.

When Itachi turned back to the thing that's he despised most in this world, he was more than pissed off. He could guarantee that the explosion they'd heard earlier was him, and his slippery fucking-oopsies I accidentally dropped this on you-happy hands.

He glared and activated his doujutsu, he could rein in his temper, he could keep it under control, but he swore to god that if anything happened to Sakura this time, the price would be someone's life.

He'd unleash hell.

When Deidara landed but twenty feet away from him, he turned rigid, the youngers' stance was far too lax for his liking.

"Ne, Itachi, did you feel my fine piece of art earlier? Quiet a bang, yeah?" He smirked at Itachi, the absolute audacity that it must've taken to do that was beyond him.

"If by 'bang' you mean amazing, then I think my answer might disappoint you..." he knew that his tone was bordering on that edge, the one that people knew to beware.

"Hmm, well who cares about your opinion anyway, your a bastard yeah." Deidara noctantly grabbed more clay from the pouches underneath his cloak. "Leader-Sama wants you, Fish Man and Danna back, he's not happy yeah." The blonde man smirked and gave him a coy look from the eye that Itachi could see.

"So who was the pretty little slut that was with you? Paid whore? I didn't know there was a brothel around here..." he smirked at him again, and that little string inside was cut by a very fine knife, "I guess you really are that ugly if you have to pay for se-"

He had a feeling.

Deidara dropped to the ground and held his bleeding stomach, forced to choose between holding his collapsing throat muscles, or his shredded insides.

A very good feeling.

He stomped on the man's hand, feeling satisfaction as the bones broke under his heel.

That Deidara would choose his words more wisely next time.

He threw a kunai at the white bird before Deidara could make the 'Katsu' sign, preventing any more unnecessary explosions for now.

"Rot in hell explosion boy." He said simply, before shooting off in the direction of the house, hoping like hell, that Leader-Sama wasn't with them.

When Sakura made it to the house, half of it was in ruins, she stiffled her gasp for now and ran through the rubble. That was before coming in contact with something solid. She could've sworn that there was no wall there bef-

There stood a man, piercings scaring healthy skin, orange spiky hair and purple eyes with rings and what appeared to be tomoe staring into her very soul.

Her eyes widened as he continued to stare her down. But she wasn't afraid, just astonished. Why was this man here? What was he doing?

Before thinking on it long, Sakura dug her hands into the rubble, using the brief lift up on her arms, she threw her body backwards with grace, landing nicely in her feet. She drew out two kunai, her own special ones that she'd been saving.

"Who are you?" She asked the man, she cursed her shaking voice and hands.

The man only stood up straight, staring into her soul, his eyes never leaving hers.

He began to lift an arm, and as he did a woman with beautiful blue hair appeared at his side.

"Leader-Sama, the Hokage and the other woman have fled, what are your orders now-?" Her eyes trailed to Sakura.

Sakura in her own world began to feel her resolve shift. These people were bad. These people chased away the Hokage-her one chance at becoming something as great as a Sannin slipping away.

These people pissed her off.

Her eyes hardened and her hands stopped shaking as she took a deep breath. The woman turned to face her fully. It wasn't long before more showed up. But the ones that stood out were those of her friends.

Kisame, Sasori, Hidan, and Kakazu stood on the sides of that man.

They were siding with him. With the enemy! Her anger only grew, and this time she began to shake, not of fear, but of rage.

Her eyes bored into them and she was sure that she saw them flinch as her eyes trailed to them.

 _Those bastards played me! Every single fucking...one...of...them..._

Itachi flashed through her eyes, when he kissed her, when he told her that he loved her, when he held her close.

Another emotion added into the fray, betrayal made her blood boil and her ears ring. Three words made themselves clear though.

"Dānnā Banshō Tēnin..."

A large blast of Chakra enfused wind shot at her. Automatically she stabbed the two kunai in her hands into the ground, but when they came out of the ground she let them go, and instead slammed her hands into the ground with a cry of hatred.

She did learn something from the Sannin after all it seems.

The large crater turned into the earth cracking open. Apparently the element of surprise was in her favor today it seemed. She needed to use that to her advantage if she was going to do anything to the people that had hurt her so.

She slipped in between the crack, and using the dust and the absolute chaotic-ness of the whole situation, hid her chakra and glued herself to the wall, careful of how much of her concealed chakra she was using.

She ran as fast as her legs would take her, anger blurring her choice of action, and her mind told her that their one goal in mind was more important than their life.

 **Kill them, kill them all for what they did.**

Her chakra came to life, a swirling of light blue with wisps of lapis lazuli. She charged up at the first person she could find.

 _Sasori._

 **Easy target...**

She used the still settling dust as her surprise. For when she jumped up behind him, he barely had time to turn around, before she smashed a chakra infused fist into his back.

He was sent flying but she didn't bother to bask in the image of him crumpled over, splintering.

She turned on her feet barely dodging what she found to be one of Kakuzu's tentacles. She sidestepped and smashed her heel into the ground again, the dust cloud even bigger this time.

When she felt her skin beginning to get cut, she turned to look at her exposed arms. Small butterflies were cutting open her arms. She began to panic before **the voice** spoke again

 **There's a reason you have a water affinity, you know...**

Yes! That was it! She quickly preformed the right hand signs.

 _Tiger, Ox, Monkey, Rabbit, Rat, Boar, Bird, Ox, Horse, Dog, Tiger, Dog, Tiger, Snake, Tiger, Ox, Monkey, Rabbit!_

"Water style: Water vortex jutsu!" She screamed. Now typically this Jutsu was used on the enemy, but right now, she was using it on herself. Paper would never be susceptible to water. Even if the Paper was Chakra infused, her water was as well.

She let the water go, and wasn't surprised to find Hidan and Kakuzu standing there, stances ones that were ready for battle.

"Sakura-San, stop this nonsense." Kakuzu spoke, his voice not letting anything away.

"Yeah you stupid hoe! What the fuck is wrong with you!?" Hidan screamed at her, swinging his scythe adamantly.

She needed to think of a plan. And while her brain ran wild, her eyes caught the two shimmering glimpses of her two special kunai.

She wasted no time in darting for them.

She's only managed to graze Kakuzu, but Hidan let it hit him straight on.

"You stupid bitch! That won't do shit to me-" suddenly the ground became Hidan's best friend, so he gave it a hug.

She draped out another kunai, this one not nearly as lethal as the ones used previous.

Well shit, if she was going down.

She threw caution to the wind. She let chakra flow freely and charged into battle, meeting her opponent head on.

She wasn't going down without a fight!

~*~*~*~*~

I'm so sorry for not updating! This is not the last chapter I was just playing you guys last time! I have good news! Okay so the boy that I liked since the beginning of the school year asked me out and now we're dating, and I'm suuuupppppeeeerrrr happy. Thank you all for continuing to support me!

With much love~

-lovesnaruto7


	11. Chapter 11: Roses

Danzo's Pov

Hidden ROOT Base-Konohagakure Nō Sato

The small dripping of water would annoy a normal person. The fact that you couldn't hear footsteps on the floor would make some run in fear.

But not Danzo.

He sat in a room, surrounded by scrolls with markings that only he and his ROOT could read. He picked up a scroll that sat idly on one end of his desk. Unraveling it he scanned the contents.

The color told him that it was from Orochimaru.

The purple venom like color didn't faze the man as he read until the end.

 _你就会_

 _Danzo, my old friend. I understand that you have been looking for something, or rather, someone. I was informed by two of your ROOT operatives a couple months back, that if I were to catch wind of anything, that I should tell you. Of course, this information will come at a cost, and I assure you, it will be well worth the payment..._

Danzo, while not outwardly showing it, was intrigued. What could Orochimaru be going on about? He had many people that he was looking for. That 'someone' could literally be anyone.

Standing slowly, he made his way over to a part of his wall. Seals surrounded that one particular area on the wall. He had doubts that anyone in this village could break them.

He himself was a master in funijutsu. Having taken many of the funijutsu he learned from his Sensei, Tobirama Senju.

He pushed thoughts of his overly stoic Sensei to the back of his head, determined to forget that of which took from him.

With the correct hand seals the wall took on the image that it was crumbling. Inside the wall say many mission scrolls that he couldn't afford to lose.

He skimmed his fingers along all of them, stopping momentarily at Uchiha Itachi's file-well a copy of it. The Hokage had the original.

He set his hands on Haruno Kizashi's file. He carried it back to his low sitting desk, skimming his thumbs over the edge. He'd be lying if he said he felt nauseous holding this man's file.

He felt no remorse for his course of action. Haruno Kizashi himself was a threat, he was strong to say the least, and his offspring had always worried him more.

Well, not _worried_ , just mildly concerned.

His daughter, Haruno Sakura, had been a problem. She was assigned to the team with Uchiha Sasuke-someone who's Sharingan he wanted with a heated desire. And Uzumaki Naruto-the nine tailed demon foxs' holder, also something that he needed for his future plans.

He couldn't begin to explain his frustration from a couple years ago. That girl had been put on that team for a reason, not just to 'Balance them out' as the Third Hokage had said.

And while most couldn't see it, she had those two boys under her thumb. They would do literally almost anything to keep her safe-even if that meant dying.

She was a liability to him and his plans, and he would stop at nothing to be rid of the obstacle in front of him. He had seen examples of it in the forest of death, where he had stationed ROOT to watch over Team 7.

The Uchiha had become furious at the sight of that girl in pain, at which he had actually sputtered. Uchiha's didn't hold people close, it wasn't in their blood.

The Nine Tails Chakra has also been reported that day. It was then that he decided that this team was too close, he needed to fix that. He needed to rip them apart, and all he had to do was pull one tiny little string.

And that string was Haruno Sakura.

He'd assigned Kizashi to this mission particularly because he wanted to see if the man would kill his only kin. To his utter astonishment the man had agreed without much hesitation.

But he found himself at a loss when their team was sent on a mission to the Land of Frost, only to return with one less team member.

Apparently Haruno had fallen down into a ridge, and smashed on the rocks below. And while the other two members of Team 7 were there, they could not collect a body. It was too tattered to actually bring her remains back to the village, without bringing her in separate pieces.

He remembered being in the Hokage's office, discussing legal matters with Tsunade-Hime, when the two young boys had returned.

The jinchuriki had all but flung himself on Tsunade, crying and wailing as if he was just born.

The Uchiha merely leaned against the wall, and sunk to the floor, head in between his knees.

Hatake had just stood there, as he wasn't there when the accident happened, he was waiting at the retrieval location, and held his head low, hands clenched at his sides.

He remembered the Uzumaki's words quiet clearly.

 _"What's the point of being a ninja, if I can't even save the people that I love the most!? Huh?! Why!? Why does this always happen to me!? I don't understand!" He ripped his headband away from his forehead._

 _"You're supposed to signify something! You're supposed to let people know that I'm strong! You're a lie! A lie! I'm Uzumaki Naruto damnit, and I'm..." more tears fell from the poor boy's eyes._

 _"Gonna be..the best Hokage ever..." he sunk to the floor, just as his only remaining teammate, and sobbed, hard and long._

Yes, the memory, even if it happen almost three years ago, was still fresh in his mind.

But now, the Uzumaki brat was outside of the village, with Jiraiya no less. He was training, to become stronger, so that he could bring back the last Uchiha.

The boy's efforts would prove to be fruitless in the end. He knew where the Uchiha brat was at all times, he could get him and return him to Konoha at any time.

And he was just waiting.

For the right time, and it wouldn't be too long now.

War always brought sinister undertones to the atmosphere, and he couldn't wait to be at the center of it.

 _You will fall at my rein..._

Sakura's Pov

I recommend listening to La Vie En Rose while reading this part! Cover by Cristen Miloti!

Her battle with Kakuzu had proved to be more difficult than she once thought. Her flaw was underestimating him, this man, or whatever he really was, was a force to be reckoned with.

His different elemental affinity's made it difficult to find a weakness. But it seemed like he preferred to use fire.

His tentacles were always the things that would block off her route. She was smart enough to know, that she was no match for him right now. His reserves were about 25% larger than her own-thanks to meditation and her chakra control.

And at this point she's basically wasted 75% of her own reserves, and best case scenario she had about a half an hour left in her before she was done for.

She needed to think of a plan, hiding wouldn't work forever, and she couldn't conceal her chakra for long either if she wanted to keep it.

Her special poison on the other hand, was working in her favor. Hidan had yet to get up, and that was almost an hour ago that she'd hit him.

And although she had only grazed Kakuzu, the poison had slowly yet surely begun to take its effect. His movements became slower, and his limbs became more loose.

It didn't matter how much was in his system, it only mattered his long it was in it. If you take Hidan, who got hit dead on, he collapsed almost immediately. But Kakuzu, he had only been grazed, so it only made sense that he wasn't on the floor yet.

She needed to think of something, but her brain kept drawing a blank.

"Sakura-San, as I said before, stop this, it's unnecessary." Just by hearing his voice, she knew that he was feeling the effects as well.

She smirked in triumph, but in her head, she was wondering where Itachi was. And then the thought of his absolute betrayal to her, and his loyalty to these people hit her like a ton of bricks.

 ** _Who cares about him? He lied to you..._**

Her eyes went downcast as she continued to hide.

She needed to get out of here, and she needed to do it fast. Running away wasn't the most noble thing to do, no. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

Repeating the handsigns from that day long ago, where she was careening towards her death, a clone appeared in front of her.

An exact replica in every way. Depositing 1/4 of her current chakra into the clone, she gave it orders. She didn't want to be too obvious in her distraction, so she placed her clone in her old spot, against the hollow of a tree.

Her chest tightened at the thought of running away from such a powerful enemy, it brought cold sweat to her back. She felt the bile rise in her throat. He was almost considered a friend to her. Hidan as well, and Sasori and Kisame.

So far she'd hurt three out of four of them, and she felt her chest tighten at the thought. She didn't even know if Sasori was okay. Hidan she knew was immortal, so he would probably be fine, but that didn't stop the guilt that threatened to take over her subconscious.

She took a deep breath before shushining away. Her feet carried her fast, and as she heard the grass crumple under her footsteps. The fear and the adrenaline pumping her legs harder, forcing her faster. She never thought that she'd run this fast in her whole life.

 _Hold me close and hold me fast..._

Her breath hurt, and her lungs burned, making it harder to run.

 _This magic spell you cast..._

Her eyes burned with the intensity of the speed, water leaking down her cheeks.

 _This is La Vie En Rose..._

Her lips quivered, and her shaky breathing made her feel sick, that nauseous feeling hitting her.

 _When you kiss me heaven sighs, and though I close my eyes,_

Her feet pushed her further, and flashes hit her behind her eyes as she ran.

 **"I love you, Sakura, Watashi no ai..."**

 _I see La Vie En Rose..._

Kakuzu was behind her now, she could sense him, could sense the incoming attack.

 _When you you press me to your heart, I'm in a world apart,_

Only feet away now, he didn't want to, she knew-but duty before companionship, even if she was taught differently.

 _A world where roses bloom..._

The deep breath she took in only brought the horrible truth closer, but fear escaped her, and acceptance seeped in its place.

 _And when you speak, Angel's sing from above..._

 **Will you still love me?** She thought sadly.

 _Every day words seem to turn into love so..._

 **When I can no longer hold your hand?** She pursed her mouth closed.

 _Give your heart and soul to me..._

 **When I can no longer be by your side?** She halted her breathing as something pressed firmly against her back, but not what she expected.

 _And life..._

 **When I can no longer love you?** The breath against her ear brought her back, and the heavy weight on her back wasn't painful.

 _Will always be..._

"Sakura..." the voice of her Itachi hit the shell of her ear, she gasped as he spoke. She felt the blood stain on the back of her shirt. Her breath caught in her throat. This couldn't be true. _No..._

"I love you, Sakura, Watashi no ai..."

 _La Vie En Rose..._

Gone with the wind, his hands still in the transportation jutsu shape, Itachi watched as the Cherry Blossoms intermingled above him, smiling softly he let his body fall to the ground as a black tendril pulled out of his stomach.

"I will always love you..."

He let his eyes close softly as the breeze brought her scent to him. No matter where's he was, she would be by his side.

"Sakura..."

~*~*~*~*~*~

 **Not the end, I just really like this. Did you? Review please!**


	12. Chapter 12: Wait For Me

Being thrown into an open field full of snow was not how Sakura had thought her life would end. She had whole-heartedly expected a black tendril to be driven through her chest not moments earlier.

Frantically getting to her feet Sakura looked all around her, and finding no sign of the man who, despite her earlier accusations, did in fact love her, screamed.

Calling his name, over and over, she could feel the freezing stain on the back of her shirt, his blood. Her clothes had blood on them. _His_ blood on them.

She felt the wet streams of soon to be ice on her cheeks and she realized that she was crying. And with good reason to, a more sarcastic price of herself thought.

She felt the bite and chill on her arms as the snow relentlessly slapped against her skin. But her body would not move, what kind of human was she, to have assumed that of him? To think that he would do anything that was less than what was good for her?

She was trash, her old sensei's words rang through-out her head. She was scum, and as the words played on a loop, she screamed again, falling to her knees.

She was the useless thing's in this world! She was the epitome of uselessness! She covered her mouth as a disgusting chocked sob racked her body, lurching her forward.

He had done everything in his power, and now he was dead!

DEAD! HE WAS DEAD! IT WAS ALL HER FAULT!

He died! That attack was aimed straight at her heart! HE WAS DEAD!

She didn't even try to hold back her bile as it rose in her throat. The taste made her gag as everything came up. Everything.

And even when she could no longer get any stomach acid to come up, tears still streamed down her red checks. Eyes swollen she laid there.

The first question was, why did she even exist.

She didn't know the answer.

The second question was, why wouldn't she die yet?

The answer still would not come.

The third and final question, before she scummed to darkness was, what was the point of living anymore?

She knew the answer to this one. Oh so very clearly, and the clarity of it was not shocking in the slightest.

There was no point, and she knew that. So as her body hit the snow, the feeling of it scraping against her bare arms painfully, she closed her eyes.

She didn't try to conceal her warmth or try to even look alive.

Because she was dead, next to her pile of stomach contents, and what little blood had come from the clothes on her back.

 _This is where trash belongs_.

She passed out before she saw the tall figure loom over her, his spiky orange hair a stark contrast to the whiteness that surrounded them. A smaller figure appeared next to him, cold eyes stared at the figure below them.

~*~*~*~*~

 _Death_ , he had always wondered, _what was_ _it like?_ It had always been an echoing thought that popped up every now and then.

He had always hoped that his death would be quick;possibly painless. But with the crass that he'd been handed in life it didn't seem like that was going to happen.

Before most recently he had thought that he would either die to his illness, or to Sasuke. And as he felt the grain of every piece of grass he thought, _This isn't so bad._

It was quiet, calm, peaceful almost. He tried to shut out the thought's in his head. Everything seemed to hurt and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't''t seem to forget about the impossibly large hole in his torso.

How he had not died on impact was beyond him. The hole was at least six inches in diameter. If he had to guess, he'd say that at least one of his vital organs was damaged.

He felt the pull on his body and found himself in Kisame's arms. He swore to god if anyone made another joke about him being the 'Seme' he was going to murder them.

As this was not the first time that it had happened Itachi found his thought's wandering away from the situation at hand and back to when the inside joke had first started.

"Itachi!" Kisame called to his partner, but he was met with dazed eyes and shallow breathing.

 _Damn_ , he cursed internally.

Kakuzu stepped next to his side and began to stitch the skin together. And even Kisame knew that the wound should've been properly healed before stitching it together-disinfected at the least.

"What are you idiots doing?!" They heard a very angry female scream out from behind them.

They knew that voice, oh did they ever. They both flinched as they heard the loud stomps coming closer to them.

There stood Tsunade, small scuffs covering her body. But her pride and strength made her stand tall and no one in their right mind would mess with the queen.

She shoved Kakuzu out of the way and was only mildly pissed off that the wound was shut half way. She placed her glowing green hands over the still bleeding wound and closed her eyes.

"Shizune!" She called out behind her.

"Y-yes Tsunade-Sama?!" The girl squeaked out, surprised at her master's outburst.

"Disinfect this stat! Also get me my medical bag!" She shouted order's to the younger girl, who seemed to get in the zone and didn't miss a beat.

They watched as she cleaned the wound and kept Itachi's heart steady, and when they were done with the front of his body they gently moved him onto his stomach.

"We really should've done this side first-this side had taken more damage. But since you two," She gave them both a pointed glare. "Decided to be total dumb-asses, we had to finish the front first." She sighed and they repeated the process on this side, not one bit of sweat forming on her brow.

But by the time that she was done, she was panting, not only from her discovery, but from the fact that she had to repair not one, but two of his internal organs-and even now he'd be lucky if he could move around properly.

Panting slightly she'd turned to Kakuzu "Where is my other apprentice-oh and on the side, how the hell did this happen?!" She gestured to Itachi.

Kakuzu himself sighed before he spoke, "I am the cause of Itachi-San's poor health right now. Leader-Sama ordered me to take care of Sakura-San."

He took a breath before he began to speak. "She tried to get away, and believe me when I say that I did not want to have to kill her, but Leader-Sama wants her dead. And I am loyal to him." Kakuzu hung his head in what they all knew too well was shame.

"Itachi-San shushined in front of her, and before I could stop my attack hit him. Itachi used a transportation jutsu on her, because she disappeared right afterwards. I don't know however. Where he sent her- all I know is that he sent her that way." He pointed North.

Tsunade gained a tick mark as he finished his explanation. "Are you kidding me hentai-man?!!" While they were all shocked at the new nickname, they laughed.

'That could literally be three whole entire countries! Frost! Sand! And Wind! All of which are some of the biggest countries!" (Just go with it) She screamed at him.

"Do not get your panties in a wad over something that I had no control over. If you truly want to know where she is," He pointed to Itachi "ask him."

They all stare dat the still dazed Itachi and they bent over him, wondering how the hell they would get the answer out of him.

When Sakura came to, she was just unbelievably confused. Was she dead? Was she in heaven? Or perhaps it was hell? She didn't know which one to think, because if she was being honest she had always hoped to be reincarnated.

She stirred and she pulled the blanket closer to her form. Wait-blanket?! She sat straight up and looked around her, and found the colorless walls of a cave greeting her.

Immediately her eyes shot to the figures who sat by a fire watching her curiously. Instinctively she pulled the blankets closer to her form, shivering at their calculating gazes.

"Hello." She said and how hoarse her voice was surprised her, how long was she out exactly?

"Hello." the larger man said, he had orange hair and orange eyes, an overall welcoming personality if it wasn't for how tall and big he was.

The other man, dressed in a heavy kimono and special ninja shoes had grey, almost white hair. He had green eyes much like her own, but they were a shade darker. He head odd marks on his head, and if Sakura had to guess she'd say that he was more of the silent type.

"My name is Jugo, and that over there is Kimimaro-Sama. We found you two days ago, in the snow with blood on your clothing, what happened?" He was being nice to her, but every instinct that she had was telling her that she needed to be on her guard.

So intent on being vague Sakura answered. "I was transported here through a jutsu after one of my loved one's saved me..." Just thinking about it made her want to cry, and crumbled and just curl into herself. She wanted to die.

"Do you know if your loved one is safe?" What an odd question coming from a stranger.

"He's dead..." Her voice seemed to lose everything in that moment, and she could tell because the man above her visibly flinched at the mention of death-perhaps it was her appearance, or the fact that a girl such as herself had such a dead tone.

"He's..." Her eyes widened as she felt the blood rush through her head, making her dizzy.

"Dead..." She covered her face with her hands and could not stop the tears this time, the terrible feeling that welled within her and all of the possibility's that flashed through her mind.

She knew that before Itachi had done nothing but put up with her, but then they had grown close, and they had developed love, and it was torn away from her in an instant;he was torn away form her in an instant.

She tug of her body against this Jugo person didn't scare her, and although it was kinda weird, he gave off a fatherly aura and she couldn't help but drown in the time that she had like this, keeping all of it in was simply killing her.

 _Itachi-Kun..._

 **He pulled her forward in a hug and settled her nicely in his lap, remembering the tune that he'd heard earlier, it was so sweet. Sakura seemed dumbstruck on what to do, and he couldn't keep the smile away.**

 _My..._

 **Itachi gave the briefest of smiles before turning his body slightly and he had the audacity to wink at her! The man clearly was crazy, her heart could only take so much! It was beating a mile a minute! Sakura had to force down the urge to hyperventilate**

 _Itachi-Kun..._

 _Life,_ she thought, clenching her fists and sobbing, _is not worth it without you here..._

Falling into oblivion her head filled with thoughts of the only man she would ever truly love. The man who was dead.

 _It won't be long my love, I shall see you soon..._

 _~*~*~*~*~*~_

 _I need you guys help, I know what I'm gonna do next for Sakura-which is unusual because I never know what to do with her I'm better at writing for Itachi-but now I don't know how I should make Itachi's POV next time. Send me Reviews Please I love them so much!_

 _~lovesnaruto7_


	13. Chapter 13: The Screams

Many people would complain about the cold, the frosty chills that were barely kept outside in the night.

Many would have given up, just not seen the point and drawn the kunai to their neck without hesitation.

But many were not Sakura Haruno, one who had cheated death, and the one who would be the strongest Shinobi ever.

She had made it her goal-no her absolute ambition, to bring justice to him

She would avenge him. She would avenge the man that she loved once, the one who died protecting her.

She felt tears spring to her eyes at the thought, so she pushed it back, but let her plan form in her mind.

She felt the presence's behind her, and she let out a bit of tenseness in her shoulder's, it was Jugo and Kimimaro, she had grown quite familiar with these two in this past week.

And shockingly enough, despite her more depressed nature, she had managed to make friends with them. She would need their help as well, if she was going to do this, she would need the help of these two.

But first, she needed to inquire to them if they were even willing to help, for she did not know how far she could stretch this 'familiarity' that they had developed.

"Jugo, Kimimaro, may I inquire to you something?" She asked raising her voice above the blistering wind as she sat on top of the roof of the hotel.

"Of course Sakura-San what troubles you?" Jugo, he had a funny way of talking, he was always so unbelievably polite.

"Speak." Kimimaro didn't really bother her with his form of speech, he was short and to the point, he never beat around the bush unless it was on purpose.

She took a deep breath, steadying herself for the words that were about to leave her mouth. "I made a promise to someone once, it was a silent promise, but it was still there."

 _Breathe._ "Him and I had a mutual care for that place, and we vowed that we would never intentionally hurt it. But, I'm afraid that I can no longer keep this promise to him..."

 _Breathe._ "That place, it took everything from me. It took him away from me, and w-while I cannot get him b-back,"

 _Deep breath..._

"I-I can avenge him. I can bring them t-to their knees." Choked breathe.

"They will see, that I am no person to fuck with." She clenched her teeth together as they took up the spots on her sides.

Their eyes scanned the large vastness of white before them, unblinking as the snow continued to hit their faces.

It was Jugo who spoke first. "What is it exactly you need our help with?" His voice was calm as he continued to look at the powdered covered mountains.

She didn't hesitate. "The fall of Konohagakure No Sato."

They didn't flinch, they just continued to remain silent. As the seconds ticked by Sakura's anxiety got higher, and her breathing quickened.

One hand was set on her right shoulder. _Jugo._

It was, however, Kimimaro who spoke next. "What is it though, that you want from us?" His voice sent chills down her spine, and she had to keep the shudder inside.

And as more tears flowed freely down her face, only one answer came to mind. And she wouldn't change it for the world.

"Don't leave me."

Another hand was set on her left shoulder. Kimimaro.

"Never..." They said together.

And you couldn't really blame her for the tears that followed after that.

* * *

A week had passed since Itachi's sudden attack. And while the week passes everyone's anxiety continued to get higher.

He had yet to wake up after a week. Tsunade checked on him every day, and she would always pull her hands away from him with a shake of her head. Muttering along the lines of 'deteriorating lungs' and 'stupid Uchiha bastard'.

"Hey blonde bitch, when will the Uchiha wake up from his long-ass nap?!" Hidan snapped at the older woman.

She didn't answer and completely disregarded his rude words, instead, she continued to walk, away and out of the room that they had rented.

The room became silent as the four awake men looked at each other, their insides churning at the silent response they received from the worlds best medic. Whatever had been going through her head was most certainly not good. Typically she would retort back with a response that was sure to leave a sting, but now she would only leave the room silently muttering things and shaking her head.

After the silence began to be too much, Kakuzu spoke.

"We need to go back." He closed his eyes and folded his hands beneath his chin.

Silence ensued again as the statement settled heavily on them. It was true they needed to go back, and soon. Their Leader was already not happy with them, and with the events that had just taken place, he was sure to be even more upset than last time.

Sasori was the first to shoot back. "To where? To Leader-Sama, who is sure to kill you, because you put Itachi in this state?" Hidan nodded and Kisame sighed looking worriedly at his still unconscious partner.

Kakuzu himself sighed and glared at the puppet. "You know just as well as I that he cannot kill me," This was where Hidan was about to make a smart-ass comment but was interrupted by the hand on his mouth. "for various reasons. One of them being that he needs me, he would not be able to complete the Bijju extraction without me or any of you for that matter." They all knew that was true, so they nodded and continued to listen. "Secondly he needs every member he can get, as he is planning on invading Konoha soon, and if my memory doesn't deceive me he will be at the location in approximately two weeks."

"And if any of you have half a brain," He stood and grabbed his cloak, swinging it over his shoulder.

The implication that was to come was left unsaid, they knew. And Kakuzu, knowing who he was talking to, spoke the words anyway, just in case it didn't get through their _fucking_ heads.

"You _will_ be there unless you want to be slaughtered when he does get his hands on you..." He left the room and went to what they assumed was the bar downstairs as he had been doing for the past week, drinking away his guilt. They lowered their heads as the door slammed shut after him, the guilt ate away at them as well.

Kisame could not fathom the feeling in his chest, it was tight and just overly crowding. It made a knot form in him, and he couldn't help the tenseness that gathered in his body. He knew somewhere in him that this was partially his fault if he had listened to his heart rather than his Leader everything would be fine. They had all been ordered to kill Sakura, and even when he succumbed to darkness he couldn't escape the green eyes that held that look of utter betrayal.

Sonn after he could no longer stand the suffocating aura the room held and left, he needed to find something to eat, or kill. Maybe a brothel, at this point he just wanted his body to be doing something so his mind would leave for a little bit.

Sasori was the next to leave that room, his thoughts were less muddled and more collected but they were all directed at one thought in particular:

He was an awful creation.

That girl, the one who had caused him so many problems, yet the one that had managed to make her way into somewhere inside of him, was somewhere out there. And if by Tsunade's assumptions, she was in dangerous territory wherever she went.

The chances of her being alive when- _if_ they found her, were very slim.

He caught himself at the _when_. He would not let his mind think that there was hope for something that there simply was not. If she was dead, she was dead, he would not be held down by a _when_.

Because if the _'when'_ never came, they'd be stuck in a false reality that would be on a loop forever.

And that was one world he did not wish to exist in.

Finally, Hidan was left in the room alone, he groaned as his eyes drifted to the unconscious form that lay still on the bed. He almost found it gross, but couldn't bring himself to say the words, whether it was disrespectful or not. The seriousness of the whole situation must've made its way into his system this time. He just couldn't bring himself to make a smartass comment about the Uchiha-bastard right now.

His eyes drifted to the window then, scanning the small and too-quiet-town they were stationed in for now. Their next move was still at large, and they had no idea what they were going to do. His eyes narrowed perceptively as the door opened behind him. Probably puppet boy, coming back to give him an earful of bullshit that he didn't want to hear.

"Listen here stick, I already know that I majorly fucked up alright?! You don't have to come back and rub it in my face! And I'm not the only one either! So don't you try and pin this shit on me! You're not innocent either!" He spun on his heel only to not find Puppet-boy but rather a dazed Shizune, who stopped about two feet away from him her arm outstretched.

His thoughts stopped abruptly as he made eye contact with swimming black orbs. They were a comforting dark color, and he had never been so entranced by a pair of eyes.

Somewhere in the back of his head, a voice told him that the arm, and the hand at the end of it, was for him. That she was reaching for him, she was here for him.

Another part of him, the larger louder part told him that the notion was absolute shit, but he wouldn't let the words shake away.

She's going to save me...

He wasn't thinking, that had to be it. He wasn't thinking properly.

That's why she was in his arms right now.

That's why she was pressed against his bare chest.

That's why he was whispering his problems in her ear.

That's why her hands were in his hair.

He wasn't thinking straight.

This moment of weakness would come back to bite him in the ass, he knew, better than most. But he couldn't bring himself to pull away from her small body, or the warmth that seemed to radiate from it.

"This is all my fault, and it's too late to fix it." He said quietly, the guilt from what he had done to Sakura becoming too much to bare.

"It's never too late..." She said, her voice quivering.

Those words would be the ones that would set him straight.

The ones that dragged him from a bath of blood that he was sure to wallow in for the rest of his miserable life.

And he didn't know whether to thank her or kill her for the feeling that hit him like a ton of bricks.

* * *

Danzo Shimura was not a patient man, he knew when he wanted things, and he knew that if he did not get them quick, he could be a bit out of hand.

This was one of those cases he was sure, without a doubt. He had been waiting for a response from that Snake Sannin for more than a week now, and he was getting impatient. He could not help the almost non-existent tick that was on his forehead. With his hands folded beneath his chin, he scanned the room, noting the cracks that were beginning to take place on the walls.

He needed to hurry, his plan needed to happen soon.

He needed Sasuke Uchiha's eyes. After he killed Itachi, he would take the elder brother's eyes, just as planned. Danzo had faith that if he asked, Sasuke would join him and he would be his slave. In a sense, Sasuke would have no choice but to listen to him, he would end up being the only one that the boy could trust.

But in all reality, he would be Danzo's ultimate puppet.

He would not escape, and he would make sure that all of Konoha fell to him. This would be what he was waiting for his entire life, everything that he had been waiting for. Now was the time, and shortly his reinforcements should be showing up within the next week to discuss the plan. And while he was sure that he would be able to complete it even without their help, he needed them for an entirely different reason as well.

He almost laughed at how easy this was, everyone was under his thumb, clueless as to what was about to happen. It was the epitome of masterpiece, all put together and absolutely flawless. He closed his eyes, and behind them, he found his old Sensei that hereditary frown still on his face.

Disappointment was a thing that he had never had to experience. He had been the prodigy of his squad when he was younger, but Lord Second could not see the potential that he held, and perhaps that had been the underlying bitterness that had always clung to him.

His Sensei had always been far too obsessed with the Uchiha that was on his team, seeing potential, and grace within that body. Even though Tobirama Senju had originally hated the Uchiha, he seemed to have taken a liking to that particular one, even Sarutobi had been more favored than he.

He couldn't help but think idly that his former Sensei's hate for that clan may have rubbed off on him just a tad. While he didn't hate them how he had, he still did not like them. That was why he requested the death of that filthy clan, all for the better of Konoha he had said. That was a load of shit he knew, and he had set everything into motion, with the help of Itachi that is. Without that boy, the day they all died would've just seemed like an execution by Konoha. With the help of Itachi, he had conjured up the perfect facade, it was flawless, 'Shinobi Prodigy gone insane from the pressures and hardship's of ANBU kills entire clan.' He couldn't help the mirthless laugh that escaped him at the thought.

He would rule this village, and with it, he would rule the Shinobi world, and he would finally be seen for the Prodigy that he truly was.

It was just a matter of time now, and waiting was all it took.

With a stirring mind and clouded morels, Danzo sat as he waited for a response from the Snake.

* * *

He could run all he wanted, he could try and hide, he could even try death, but he wouldn't get away.

This place was awful, it was always dark and it never ended, it was like there was floor underneath his feet, but there were no walls, there was no food, this place was empty and shattered glass littered the floor.

His nightmare's lived here, and he fought them for the unexplainable amount of time that he was here. they would come back, and he would see the blood and the corpses, and the unheard screams that echoed through-out his mind late in the night. This place was terrible and he screamed and cried and ran and killed, but he could not get away. He was here, and he was not allowed to leave.

The voices, oh god the voices, they whispered in his ear and drove him insane, they would not leave, and he couldn't remember what silence was. He screamed for them to leave, begged and prayed, but the voices of the dead haunted him.

"Itachi..." They moaned for him to help them, they screamed and cried out to him, he covered his ears, but they just got louder.

"Go away!" He would scream, tears streaming down his face. He had never felt the need to die so powerfully, this was sickening. He had tried to, he had clawed at his neck, he had slammed his head into the ground more times than he could count, but he would always wake up, he would always be fine when he came to and this endless shell would still surround him.

 **"Watashi No Ai..."** He screamed louder

 **"I love you..."** He cried harder, slamming his hands over his ears.

 **"Sakura..."** He clawed at his throat, and he met the darkness that never seemed to leave him.

* * *

 _Oof, I hope you like it! Leave me reviews, please!_

 _-lovesnaruto7_


	14. Chapter 14: The Other Side

This place, it was too quiet. It was muggy too, it was messing with her hair, but that really was the least of her concerns. Her hair needed to be cut again, and she feared that if she cut it here she'd end up looking like Naruto.

This was one of the hardest countries to get into, and she knew that she had wasted a lot of time in getting here, and Kimimaro and Jugo were putting up with her and what she needed to do, but this had to be done.

Slipping in and out of the shadows she kept her chakra to a non-existent, her breathing was shallow and her heart was steady. She gave it a thought and came up with the answer, that it would take a hell of a lot to get her heart beating fast again.

Her heart would beat fast if she worked hard, if she exhausted herself, if she brought this world to the brink of extinction, then her heart would beat happily. Kiri was the last place she thought that it would start, but here she was, and she could not turn back now.

She thought back on all the research she'd done this past week, scrolls overflowing her lap as she read secrets that didn't belong to her. She couldn't help but thank the Snake man more for his help, perhaps it was foolish, but teaming up with Orochimaru for this particular escapade would surely pay off. He got what he wanted, an she got what she wanted.

The man had seen nothing but benefits for himself in this deal, and that was her intention. She knew that taking down Konoha alone was a deathtrap, and she had heard the many stories of how Konoha was almost destroyed years ago by the very same man. Killing the Third Hokage in the process. While it was a loss, she knew that with his help, she could pull this plan off.

He had been very generous to her, and with that, she had been very generous to him. She knew what he wanted, he wanted the Sharingan, and with her help, she would get him a pair.

Or two or three.

She knew what Danzo had as well, no one would intentionally keep their body bandaged if there was nothing wrong with it. She had sensed what was under those bandages that day, but she had told no one. She would always remember what a chakra spike felt like, and she always felt the same thing from Itachi, and Sasuke at one point.

He had Sharingan's under those bandages, and she knew exactly where he got them. He had taken a tragedy and used it to his advantage, while Itachi had been suffering that day, he had been stealing eyes from that of the Uchiha, shaming them further than what they had already had.

It only made her angrier and made the blood-lust she had for that man grow stronger. He would be dead, and she could not wait to have his blood on her hands.

Whether it be metaphorically or literally she couldn't care less.

* * *

She had it in her sights.

The Kiba.

She found the name quite ironic regarding her old acquaintance but didn't question further.

One of the Legendary Seven Swords of the Mist.

 _"You will find it in the third to last vault on the bottom floor. Security will be tight, so I'd be careful if I were you, little girl..."_

She had despised the nickname but heeded his directions, he knew what he was talking about, and she knew that. It still didn't stop the distrusting chill that went down her spine at his words.

The hallway was long and narrow, clearly, it was not meant for a large group of tourists to walk down.

She felt her hands shaking slightly, and shivered. The excitement of the entire situation was just so exhilarating. For the past two weeks, she had been mourning and traveling. This was definitely a step up from that.

If she was correct in her calculations, then Jugo and Kimimaro should be setting up her distraction right about...

 _Now!_

And just as the thought passed through her head, she heard the large crash and screams coming from what she assumed was the East side of this fortress. Quickly two guards dressed in full ANBU ran down the hall, and to the direction of the explosion. She made her way to the vault without much thought, she needed to get in and out fo this place as quickly as possible. This sword would determine a lot, and she knew that she had no practice with swords what-so-ever, but she needed it. If she had to determine some things, she would say that Danzo had her topped in a lot of areas. Speed being one of them, but with practice she would be able to beat him.

She had him topped in analysis, and in power, but only in some cases, she had better chakra control than him, that was for damn sure.

She found the vault and saw the seal that Orochimaru had depicted would be there.

It read 'UNBREAKABLE' she laughed, what a load of bullshit that was. She took out the odd talisman that Orochimaru had slipped into her pouch before she left. Holding it she slapped it down on the surface of the vault.

Her talisman read 'CRUMBLE' apparently it was very hard to come by someone who worked with talismans' anymore. She supposed she was lucky that she had encountered Orochimaru with Jugo and Kimimaro, if not she had no idea where she would be right now.

Let's hope you didn't fuck me over like everyone else snake man...

Before her eyes the seal that stayed strong over the vault began to collapse and crumble., falling and disappearing. She launched herself into the vault, only stopping momentarily to check for traps.

Finding nothing she quickly grabbed the swords from their pedestal and held them. They were light, but well balanced, and although she knew very little about weapons what she did know was that this didn't feel right.

When someone touched these, the swords were supposed to react. They had minds of their own, but these just felt like regular weapons.

"Did you actually think that it would be that easy?" She stopped and felt herself freeze.

No, no, no, no...

This room suddenly felt very small and confined. She could hear every little drop of water hit the stone floor. Every little shift in the walls from the battle outside.

This was a setup, this was a complete setup! He had tricked her! That dirty snake had lied! Seething she turned slightly and found a beautiful woman standing there, long red hair falling past her hips and a fishnet and blue-cloth dress adoring her.

"I must commend you however, you did a fine job of getting in here..." Sakura suddenly felt very frightened. If she was found out here, then everything would be over, and she would have failed to avenge him, and she would die, knowing that she failed the one person she only wished to succeed for. She was also thankful for the cloak that she wore, it covered her hair, and smaller body frame.

She didn't say anything, just faced towards the woman as she dropped the fake twin swords onto the ground. They clanged on the stone and she stood there watching the woman.

The woman smirked at her and that's when Sakura recognized her, she was Mei, the current Mizukage. She was famed for her use of Lava and Water Jutsu, the odd combination made her famous throughout the nations almost instantaneously. Sakura knew that her particular matchup with elements wouldn't be all that great against her. Seeing that she was a Water and Earth-type, she might stand a bit of a chance if she played her cards right.

 _But,_ she reminded herself, _we are not here to fight._ _We are here to complete this and get the swords,_ she also reminded herself that this whole thing was a fake and she had been tricked yet once again by people who thought her less than themselves.

The thought angered her and she quickly spun on her foot, as far as everyone knew, she was considered dead. And because of that fact, no one had known that she trained with Tsunade, so using this move would raise suspicion, but it would definitely not get her caught. She gathered the chakra into her hand, spreading it through-out her fingertips, pulling back her arm she had only one thought in mind when she heard the words from the woman behind her.

"Hokage-Sama?"

 _Shit..._

 _"_ Cha!" She screamed as her fist made contact with the wall, crumbling it and shaking the whole building and making the structure fall down around them.

Well, they thought she was the Hokage so that's just great! Now she had people that were going to come after her thinking that she was Tsunade! The thought weighed heavily on her chest before she shook it off.

 _If you are busy worrying about other people, and other people's problems, then you will wind up dead before you can fix anything..._

She pushed her feet against a piece of fallen wall and launched herself into the dark misty night. She did the hand signs for the Jutsu that she definitely did not have an affinity for and felt the skin around her hand begin to burn.

The chirping of a thousand birds hit the area loud and clear and she soon felt Jugo and Kimimaro approaching her. She released the painful essence before running North, they would rendezvous just on the border of the country, assuming that she wasn't followed by hunter-nin then they should be on their way in approximately twenty minutes.

She looked back at the falling building, just barely able to make it out in the night, the screams and shouts would be stuck in her head. She didn't even know how many deaths were on her head right now. And if she was being honest,

She didn't want to.

 _I'm sorry..._

* * *

"Mizukage-Sama! Are you alright?!" An ANBU dressed in full black appeared behind her.

She nodded before coughing lightly, the smoke from all the debris was still in the air.

"Did you manage to get the swords to a secure area?" She crossed her arms over her chest, and bit down on the inside of her cheek.

"Hai, Mizukage-Sama, they have all been retrieved. If I may Mizukage-Sama, was the intruder Tsunade of the Sannin?" His voice held a bit of fear at the mention of the name.

"Hmm," She shook her head as she began to head back to the Tower. "No, while it was not Tsunade-Hime, it was definitely someone from Konoha." She said contemplatively.

A small silence ensued as he waited paitenly for her to move.

"Is there anything you need from me Mizukage-Sama?" He kneeled as she walked by.

"Actually, yes..." She turned her head over her shoulder and looked at him. Her cobalt eyes shining mischievously as she smirked at the ANBU making his heart beat faster.

"Please inform the elders that Konoha will be getting a visit from me, I believe that I need to handle this business myself."

* * *

A mysterious figure hid himself in the shadows, watching as the cloaked figure took off into the trees, he had to admit, the girl had potential. Perhaps she did deserve the blades that he held onto. Orochimaru-Sama just may have _'forgotten'_ to remind her that he had them. Just a simple mistake, and he was sure that the girl would understand.

After all, they had her backed into a corner, and she would do just about anything to get what she wanted at this point.

He grasped the scroll in his hand as he took off after her, he would do as Orochimaru-Sama said, and deliver the scroll to the girl. She had been able to infiltrate that place and make it out without being discovered. She did win the part of this silent deal.

He knew that Jugo and Kimimaro would not be far behind them. Those two had taken a certain liking to this girl, and they would fight for her safety, he could see it even if they would never say the words out loud, it was an unspoken bond that oddly sickened him.

Those two were experimented on in a lab after all, and in his opinion, they were anything but human.

They were merely disposable items that could be rid of at any time.

He kept his chakra hidden as he jumped after her, his hood falling loose as the wind blew by him. Silver hair gleamed in the moonlit sky as glasses glimmered as a smirk adorned a face that was simply full of mirth.

He was sure that this encounter would not end without one of them getting hurt, so sure he was that he was prepared to attack at any moment as he continued to get closer to her. He gathered a small amount of chakra near his wrists feeling the almost dull numb that sizzled at the nerves there. Small chakra scalpels forming there as he hopped from branch to branch. People may have referred to him as a medic-nin, and sure he could manipulate medical chakra. So yes he was _identified_ as a medic.

Never said he was a _good_ medic.

* * *

Unbeknownst to anyone in the area, another person lingered in an open field not too far away, practicing. Sand flung all around him as he moved his hands. He still couldn't just think about the movement for he was not that far along.

Sighing he released the sand and it returned to his hip. He had been a little more than disappointed when his siblings told him that the gourd he carried on his back was a bit offputting, so he changed it to something smaller and more compact.

Being away from his village had made him a bit uneasy, and the fact that he was so far away didn't make it any better. But the atmosphere here and the overall amount of water was helping him immensely. Water was his natural elements' enemy and he felt almost trapped in this foreign country filled with water and mist. He had met many people and a lot of them had been fascinated with his unique ability's, this feeling was still one he was getting used to. Being shunned by everyone his entire life had not helped much when it came to children. They were very...touchy...

He had been in the forest for almost a week now and he wanted nothing more than to return to his dry homeland, where water was scarce and you would step on a lizard if you walked. Sighing again he turned and began to walk away, that was until he heard the harsh sound of breathing behind him. His senses immediately heightened he readied his sand and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise.

This person, he vaguely recognized their chakra and he turned quickly. He had not seen her in almost two years! He had thought that surely she was dead. Yes, he and Haruno Sakura were friends no doubt, just as he was with Naruto. He remembered their first encounter quite clearly, and it just flashed through his mind as he whirled around to come into contact with startled minty eyes.

* * *

 _He had been traveling just near the outskirts of Sands' territory and the day had been unfortunately hot, well hotter than usual. Gaara stared silently at the forest in front of him, he was close to Konoha, and while their relationship had not budged from the Chunin exams, efforts had been made to repair the treaty that was no longer in place. He huffed as he began to walk into the forest his feet slowly shifting from sand to dirt to green grass._

 _With his gourd on his back he walked until he came upon a bridge, knowing that this was not the correct way to Konoha he continued to walk. The Elder's had suggested to him that he become more in touch with the surrounding territory and while he knew they did not mean this particular teritory he still found himself here. For once the dry sand and hot sun had made him turn to something shadier._

 _He looked over the edge of the bridge finding that he could not see the bottom, but if he tried hard enough he could hear the almost silent trickle of water down below. He heard the shuffle of feet not to far away from him and he subtly turned to face the new stranger._

 _The first thing he accounted for was the hood that covered their head, the cloak looked unbearable hot and he had no idea how they wore such a thing. The sun was beating down on them and he found himself looking directly at the stranger._

 _The Elder's words seemed to hit him straight in the face right then._

 _"Gaara-Sama, it is time for you to go out and see the land that you live in! Go meet the people around here, don't kill them, and show them that the Sand is willing to make bonds!" A particularly brave woman who looked in her late thirty's had said to him. Her words hit home and he understood that if he wanted to meet his new goal, then this would be a step towards it. Although he didn't miss her subtle warning about killing people, old habits die hard he supposed._

 _But, if it stopped people from saying thing's like that, then he would do as they wished._

 _"Pardon me." He said as he approached the stranger, he really was curious about what was under their hood, and being without human communication must've made him a bit blunt._

 _"Will you remove your hood." He said blank-faced, and he saw the person blanch from the lower half of their face that he could see._

 _The person only shook their head at him, still refusing to talk. They pointed at where he supposed their hair would be. Perhaps they did not like their hair?_

 _"My hair is the color of blood." He said bluntly, and it was true but he had been told be a couple of ladies lately that it made him look 'hot' he had no idea what that meant at all. Ever since he had come back from the Chunnin Exams in Konoha almost two years back he had changed and you could see it._

 _Many women had come seeking his affections, but he turned down them all. He was on his way to being Kazekage and as such, did not have time for such frivolous things. Internally he was a bit flattered at the attention(although it was not the attention he wanted) and Shukaku constantly laughed at Kankuro every time Gaara came home with his hands full of flowers and chocolates._

 _Slowly he slid sand out and pulled her hood down as she gestured wildly at her head._

 _He lost his breath as he gazed upon her, a startling shade of pink decorated her head, and her eyes were perhaps the most wonderful pair of gems he had seen. Her face turned red and she quickly tried to grab her hood but he pulled the clip at her neck and the cloak fell away. She appeared to be his age, maybe just a tad older. His breath still caught in his throat he watched as she held perfectly still. He almost felt like he knew her from somewhere, and he couldn't put his finger on where, like he had been told of her._

 _She seemed like she was afraid of his reaction, like he would lash out and attack her at any given moment. She looked afraid, and he wanted nothing more than to ease that. So, with a spinning head, he stuck out his hand, nodding his head at her as he did so._

 _"I am Gaara of the Sand, it is a pleasure to meet you...?" He waited for her name, but she only lightly grasped his hand. She nodded back at him, and a sweet voice greeted his ears as she spoke._

 _"It's nice to meet you Gaara, I'm uh, I'm Matsumura!" Her voice was euphonic and he knew that she had lied to him, but no one lies without reason. Perhaps she was on the run from someone and she needed to keep her identity a secret._

 _"Well, as I know that is not your real name, I politely request the real one." Her expression turned to deathly afraid again and he felt his chest squeeze. "You need not be afraid, if you have done nothing to my country then no harm shall come to you, I only wish to know your name." Her hand, that was still grasped in his, became tense, as did the rest of her body._

 _"My," she took a deep breath, "My name is Haruno Sakura..." And it suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks. This girl, the one standing right in front of him, she was the girl that Naruto had mentioned in one of his letters. The one who had died tragically in the Land of Frost on a mission. She was the one that Naruto had mentioned loving, but that accident had left her dead, and Naruto with a broken heart._

 _A small part of him was angry at her for making his friend feel such a thing, yet the more rational part of him told him that she would not have done what she had if she had not a good reason._

 _He stared at her for a long time then, wondering how in the world had she managed to pull off death, and then manage to live in the cruel world that they called home. He watched her for a long time and he could tell that she was uncomfortable, but that didn't deter him. Such as it was this situation was fairly delicate, and if not handled correctly this could make countries war, such as his and her old one that she had hailed from. He would never purposefully put his home in danger so he listened._

 _He listened as she explained for hours in-depth what had happened to her. From her father, to Danzo, who was also a village Elder, to her journey throughout the nations from the past couple of years. They slipped into walking as they talked, and he knew that she cried when she mentioned her father, but he said nothing._

 _They stopped at a river, and they sat down beside it. She faced him and dropped to her knees forehead touching the forest floor._

 _"Please, please don't tell anyone! If they found out I am alive, I'll be hunted and killed! I ran because I was betrayed," Her eyes, glassy and overcome with tears met his, "please don't let me make that mistake again..."_

* * *

He had kept her secret and he would hold it with him until his grave.

He didn't have much time to react as she launched herself at him and stood by his side.

"Gaara..." She said quietly, looking at the thick brush around them. Someone was following her. A hood covered her head but he saw the small pink hairs that poked out from underneath.

He'd be lying if he said that she wasn't beautiful. Perhaps her independence and her will to survive made her appear that way to him, but he knew that he thought she was beautiful. He had the urge to hug her, shake her hand at most, but he held still as he watched their surroundings.

He'd save the pleasantries for later, for now, he supposed. They had an enemy to handle.

A man hopped from the brush and stepped closer to them, he pulled on his hood and found a very familiar figure standing in their way.

Kabuto, a Snake in his own level. He watched as Sakura stiffened and then he watched as she became angry.

Very.

Very..

Angry...

Oh, she was definitely pissed.

The man stepped closer and Gaara didn't like the small feeling that clenched in his chest as the mans' glasses reflected off of the moon covered mist.

"Why Sakura-Chan," The man smiled and Gaara readied his sand as he stepped closer. He was within his reach right now, he could kill him without a second thought really. But he would wait, he trusted Sakura's judgment enough to know that if she wanted him dead, he'd be dead.

"Kabuto!" She hissed as she pulled back her hands, holding them on the defensive position.

"Why are you here!? Did that Snake-bastard convince you that this would be funny!?" Her chakra fluctuated dangerously as she crouched low. He could practically hear her growling from here.

"Huh?! Was that it!" She looked almost tempted to remove her hood, but she stopped short, realizing that they really weren't all that far away from the Mizukage.

Kabuto chuckled at her expense and pushed his glasses up further onto the bridge of his nose. Stopping he folded his arms over his chest.

"I do believe that you have passed Orochimaru-Sama's test, and as such," He grabbed a scroll from his side pocket and threw it on the dewy forest floor. "these weapons will now be in your possession, do be good to them, they have been with me for quite some time." Gaara slowly slid his sand out and grabbed the scroll, checking it for explosive tags as he went, he would make no mistake. This man would not be trusted, he had betrayed his country during their invasion of Konoha's Chunin Exams, and he would never trust him.

He handed Sakura the scroll and she undid the binding on it, holding it close as two twin blades appeared in her hands. He himself had vaguely heard of the blades of the Mist, and he couldn't help but wonder why Sakura had them in her possession now. Kabuto slinked away to the shadows and smirked at her.

"In a week's time, Sakura-Chan, then will you have what you seek." He was gone within a second.

All was quiet as she stared at the blades in her hands, and finally, she felt some semblance of peace wash over her.

 _Soon, I will avenge you,_ She thought, tears welling in her mint eyes.

The swaying of the trees was a calming sound.

 _Soon, I will have no regrets,_ Her breathing became ragged.

The mist that shrouded around them was a suffocating feeling.

 _Soon, I will join you on the other side._

Tears streamed from a pale face as the moon shone through the mist that never seemed to end.

* * *

 _ **Hey! Thanks for reading! I'm so sorry that this is a filler! But everything in this is very important! As you can see Sakura is on her way to her goal right now, Itachi is still in his coma, and I'm still trying to function! Please leave me reviews! They make me write faster!**_

 _ **-lovesnaruto7**_


	15. Chapter 15: On His Lips

A small rustling of fabric brought a silver-haired man to wake. He rubbed his eyes and cursed, he looked down, finding a weight on his chest. He smirked at the brunette that lay there. He gently moved her down until she lay fully on the futon. He covered her with the covers and sat up. He walked to the table in the corner of the room and sat down, he scratched at his unruly hair. He didn't have to wonder where everyone else was. Money-man was at the bar with the Hag. Fishy-Chan was at the brothel down the road, and Puppet-boy was out in the forest, doing god knows what with all the trees that were out there.

Stretching he found that a sudden urge caused him to reach down his pants. Thinking he found that they were truly wasting their time. Kakuzu had warned them not but almost a week ago about what wrath their leader would unleash on them. Yet he himself was still here and so was everyone else. They hadn't moved, because if they moved, then that meant they'd have to move the Uchiha bastard too.

He looked at the form of Itachi Uchiha, still and silent. He looked pale with the contrast the room was giving off, and through the blanket, you couldn't see his ribs so that was a plus.

Sighing he moved closer, examining the Uchiha's face. He frowned and thought about all the times he had been reprimanded by the bastard. "You know Uchiha," he started, feeling only minimally stupid for talking to a basical corpse. "I don't like you very much, you're a pompous bastard." He felt agitated by the lack of response even though he knew he wouldn't get one. "You think you're better than everyone. I remember you made fun of me because I slouched. You were all like 'Hidan stop slouching it makes you look old'. Well, let me tell you, the only reason you stand straight is because of that stick that's all the way up your ass!" Hidan huffed and turned away.

He felt down, still not receiving a response, or the customary slap to the head. Sighing he turned away and leaned his side against the wall. "But..." He shook his head, and knowing that the bastard would not hear his next words, he had no embarrassment saying them. "but that doesn't mean that I don't miss you, you bastard..." Silence met him and he shook his head. What kind of fucking retard was he talking to someone who was in a coma-

"I don't know whether to feel flattered or bemused Hidan." A voice, raspy and dry from lack of use said behind him.

He stopped making his way back to the bed. No, it can't be, he thought frantically. Hidan felt himself freeze. His head slowly turning to meet greyish-black eyes that had a glassy look. He blanched and fell backward falling loudly on his ass, making the people below them hit the roof of their floor. He was frozen, watching as Itachi coughed and turned to look at him, trying to blink away the glassy look in his eyes.

"I-I-Itachi?!" He screamed, he saw Shizune wake with a startle in the corner and as her own eyes adjusted, she too took in the appearance of the now awake Itachi. "U-Uchiha-San?!" She said disbelievingly. She was quicker to react than he was, making her way over to him quickly and feeling his forehead. She hummed and grabbed a towel from the table and wetted it. Placing it on his forehead she turned on the lamp next to the bed, she reached for Tsunade's medical bag just as the door slammed open. With it revealed a hammered Kakuzu and a less wasted Tsunade, behind them waded in a dazed-faced Kisame.

"Shizune! How many times do I have to tell you not to touch my-!" Tsunade's eyes clearly took in the conscious Uchiha as well and she immediately sobered up, dropping Kakuzu to the floor she rushed to Itachi's side, throwing her glass bottle on the floor as she did so, uncaring for the broken glass that littered the floor. She grabbed his face in her hands and turned it from side to side, checking for any strange behavior.

"When did he wake?" Her voice demanded an answer, and she grabbed her medical bag as she awaited one.

"Not even three minutes ago Tsunade-Sama," Shizune answered immediately, clasping her hands in front of her.

"Where is Sakura." Itachi stated, sitting up straight, his eyes boring into them. They all froze, the unexpected question had them halting. What were they supposed to tell him? That they couldn't find her? That she was lost, and they didn't even know if she was alive? They all kept quiet and watched as his expression grew agitated.

"Where is Sakura." He stated again, a scowl forming on his features. His eyes trailed across every person in the room, watching them shrink just the slightest and turn their heads away from him. They all kept quiet, not wanting to be the one who told him the truth. That they had yet to find her and that their time was almost up.

Itachi's gaze was cruel and unrelenting. Finally, he cast his gaze down and sighed, closing his eyes he shook his head. "You have yet to find her I presume?" He said still not looking at them, his fists clenching the bedsheets below him.

Kisame was the first to speak. "Itachi, we've been looking all over Frost, which is where we assumed you'd send her. But her chakra isn't here, there is not a trace of her anywh-" Yet once again the door slammed open and in walked a panicked looking Sasori. His eyes were wide and he had two letters in his hands. One had the symbol of Konoha on it, the other was pure black with red lining. From where everyone stood, they could see the frantic look in his eyes. He had opened the black scroll with red lining already as they could see. But the Konoha one remained untouched.

Silently he threw the scroll at Hidan who opened it and began to read, he more politely handed the Konoha-symboled one to Tsunade.

Perhaps letting Hidan read it first hadn't been the best idea."Oi! What the fuck is this shit?! What does he mean tomorrow?! It's supposed to happen three days from now!" Hidan screamed indignantly. He threw the scroll at Itachi who didn't manage to catch it, unfortunately, it hit the poor man square in the face when he swiped his arm to catch it. No one laughed but they were surprised at the disorienting state in which Itachi was.

"Still adjusting." He said quietly holding the scroll in his hands. As he read his eyes got wide, his breathing halted and he threw himself over the side of the bed, desperate to get out to go, to get her.

A scroll rolled onto the floor as Itachi leaned on the wall for help.

 _Akatsuki members, it's been a while,_ the letter started.

 _As you know, I work as what you can say, a double agent. I do believe that I have something that you may want to know. Itachi-Kun, do you remember that beautiful little flower that I had the pleasure of meeting? Itachi narrowed his eyes at the mention of that nickname._

 _Well, I do believe that you will want to know that she is on her way to that village you hold so dearly. She has every intention of destroying it, all for you, she is hellbent on avenging you. She is so soulless now I almost want to take her for myself._

Itachi didn't move and he re-read the passage several times just to assure himself that his eyes weren't fooling him.

 _Besides the point, I need you to do me a little favor. She will be in Konoha tomorrow morning, and I need you to be there, you must stop her ploy. I have some business that I must attend to while I am there, so I need you to be an easy and convenient distraction for me Itachi-Kun._

Clearly this letter was directed wholely at Itachi.

 _She is out for blood, and she will stop at nothing to get it. At her last known location, she was in Mist, she has one of the Seven Swords in her possession. Danzo is her target, and while I'm not exactly adverse to him dying, I have something more important to attend to._

 _See you at dawn Itachi-Kun._

 _-Orochimaru_

For once in his life, Itachi didn't know what to feel. The people in this room looked at him with such expectancy, with such high standards and for once he also wished he was someone else, someone who didn't matter. Someone who wasn't held on a crumbling pedestal, someone who could jump and have no repercussions come from it.

Every eye was like a dagger into his head, he couldn't do anything this time. He was stuck and he couldn't move-he was the one under Danzo's thumb, and he could do nothing but struggle as he watched the dawn rise through the large window, the sun reflecting off of the snow.

It was almost peaceful really, watching the slow sunrise over a rainy and dark village. If it weren't for her fast-beating heart she was sure she could fool herself into thinking so. Every raindrop felt like a piece of metal cutting into her skin-piercing and annoying.

She took this one moment, right here, to take in the view. She let tears fall from her eyes as she watched the monument fall and explode right before her eyes, lord second's face being taken down and part of lord third's as well. A lump appeared in her throat and she shoved it down, hurting her throat in the process

Why was she crying? She didn't deserve that privilege really. She clenched her fists at her side and felt anger and at the same time numbness flow through her. HEr emotions clashed with an unrivaled fury.

She couldn't seem to hear the screaming above everything else; everything in her head. She snarled at the screaming people and somewhere she thought that they deserved it. They were always depending on good people, people like Itachi, and they took them for granted. She wanted to scream at them, to grab them by the fronts of their shirts and ask them if they were happy now. Happy now that their savior lay somewhere cold, and no longer breathing, alone forever trapped by the shadows.

 _Let's just get this over with,_ She clenched her teeth until they ground together. _Before we die..._ She thought in relative quietness inside her head. She went straight for the streets and ran through the people running away from the crash, she was mildly overwhelmed at the number of people that crashed into her, and the people who were hopping from roof to roof.

"Move out of my way!" She yelled at these intolerable people, they didn't listen and they continued to scream and run, unbelievable. How could they be so ignorant and panicky?!

 _Fine then, if you want to play this game, be my guest,_ She clenched at the Kiba who were in her grasp. She thought of Gaara's sad seafoam eyes as she told him her plan. And the underlying need to help her that lay in them. _I hope you like dying._ She threw off her cloak-now uncaring if she was seen. She'd be dead soon anyway so what did it matter?

With a roar of anger she hit the ground and watched as Shinobi and civilians alike grabbed people out of the way from the forming crater.

All eyes were on her, and she basked in the fresh looks of disbelief; when would she get to any other time? She stood her ground, the layer of fear that had once completely drowned this girl now was gone, and was replaced with a determination to avenge.

She met the eyes of everyone, her own pair glowing bright green with her chakra fluctuations. She found the shocked and hurt eyes of people who once knew her, but found that she didn't care at all.

Anger threatened to consume her, but when she found a pair of light-green eyes she idly wondered if the jolt that went down her spine was guilt, and she held her breath still as she met green eyes.

 _Mother._

 _Her mother._

 ** _Her mother_** was staring at her with those same eyes, but they were hurt and they looked aged, she looked nearly as dead inside as Sakura, and the younger wondered if her mother had known of what her father had planned to do. If he'd cracked finally and revealed to her what he was assigned to do. She highly doubted the possibility, but the thought of her mother seeing her alive now, after thinking she'd been dead for so long, sent a long hard pang through her heart.

She stood in the crowd, and self-satisfaction was not a thing that Sakura felt as she watched her once caregiver, drop to her knees and let out an unbelieving wail. Aged hands came to cover her mouth as a soundless scream tried to rip through her throat.

She found her feet moving, but not towards her mother, rather away from her, and she walked past all the people that she once knew, as a different person. Her lip began to tremble and for just a moment she found her resolve breaking, but she had come too far now, and turning back was not an option.

She began to run and she threw herself towards the Hokage Tower in one jump, she gathered everything in her and screamed, it helped with the anger and felt the concrete crumble under her. She felt the self-satisfying crunch ripple throughout her body, and she let herself fall amidst the debris for just a second.

What was a better way to take down this Village Hidden in the Leaves by insulting them first?

 _I'm just getting started..._

She needed to find Danzo and the ANBU first, they were her main priority and they needed to be dealt with, instantaneously. She didn't smile as she saw the flames, and the rain that was trying, and failing to put it out. The screams fueled her to go deeper, to find more things to smash, and that one person she needed to kill. Seeing her once home like this never made her happy, no, but this was all necessary and she knew that Itachi would be disappointed in her. She pushed those traitorous thoughts of him away, and prayed like hell she'd be dead by the end of the day.

She hadn't expected to be surrounded by a hoard of ANBU half-way down the street that she was busy ransacking-you never know where the new secret entrance might be. They all had their weapons drawn, but they had yet to attack. Sakura's eyes were stuck on an arm that was drawn back in the position for 'Halt' She readied herself and slid into her offensive stance, she wouldn't be taking any chances today.

Not until it was over.

"What the?" The ANBU with the drawn arm said quietly but it was enough to draw the attention of his men and Sakura. She didn't want her mind to be clouded with useless bullshit so she tried to block out his incessant rambling. It was hard when that same voice resounded within her head and she felt her pulse jump at the possibility that the person standing in front of her was the one person she didn't want to see.

When he dropped his arm she fully expected to be assaulted, but his hand fell to the side fo his mask, and the mask fell to the ground below, a loud clattering noise echoing after it.

Her eyes, she swore, could not be any wider. and the person across from her, she was sure, was crying, like his eyes were leaking water onto the skin above his heart and onto the cherry-blossom necklace he wore over it.

 _That one discolored petal._

"Wrong." He said quietly. "This is wrong." He clenched his fists. "Sakura," Her name had never sounded so sour. "Sakura is that you?" This...this wasn't supposed to be what happened. This wasn't supposed to happen. This whole situation was supposed to go differently!

He wasn't supposed to be here!

She still refused to speak, to actually say something to him that could possibly ruin this for her. To crumble and crack under the force of his disbelieving words. She didn't trust herself not to cave, so she kept her mouth closed, her eyes focused, and her heart void. With an unbalanced head and shaking hands she stepped forward and towards the man she once called 'Father'.

He didn't move, and she had only now just noticed the differences from when she'd last seen him. She was taller now, still not as tall as him, but the difference was still there. His face looked darker now, older and heavy with images no one should see. She grabbed the twin blades from her sides and held them firmly, using them as her anchor to the present instead of getting swept up in the past.

She shoved forward and gave her father enough time to roll out of the way. Although he might have had the gall to try and kill her, she would not be the same with him-she was better than him.

She took off down the street with only one intention in mind.

Death, and possible agony, would look good on Danzo Shimura.

* * *

"Stop this nonsense Uchiha!" Tsunade screamed at Itachi, who had absolutely refused to listen to her. Saying that there was nothing he could do to stop her now, and that she would not listen to him.

"You are dead to her! Don't you get it?!" She screamed louder and by now he had made it to the front door of the cheap hotel that he'd been in for the past month. SHaking hands and lungs that screamed ta him to stop, to rest, to return.

"Why do you keep saying that?!" He said back furiously. His legs shook with the force he used to get out of this cheap-ass hotel, and gripped tightly to the door as he shoved it open. While he was still unclear on one thing, he did know one thing above everything else.

He had to stop her, and he had to save her.

"This is all your fault!" She screamed at him and the snow bit into his knees as he fell down, again. "If you had just left her where you found her, then this whole shit show would never have happened!" She screamed and her eyes were wide, sweat forming on her brow, she looked so angry and frustrated. He coughed and blood pooled onto the white beneath him.

"This is all YOUR FAULT!" She screamed again and he understood just a little where she was coming from. The girl she had wanted to make her apprentice had betrayed her, and now was on her way to destroy the village that she, as the Hokage had sworn to protect. He clenched his teeth and hot-white anger flooded through him. Did she think he was a fucking idiot?

"I know that Tsunade!" He screamed back, his frustration was larger than life. He couldn't move, he couldn't even walk. He couldn't save her. "I know! Why do you think I'm out here you-you-!" He screamed in frustration and he wasn't even able to bring himself to insult her, his lineage kicking him in the ass as he even thought about it. He doubled over again and strained to keep his vision from showing those familiar black dots.

He coughed into his hand and he shook fiercely, he knew that by the warmth that now lie there his hand was covered in blood. He choose to ignore the red that stood out around him and instead thought of pink pastel hair, and glowing crying green eyes.

"But I have to try." Everyone was outside now, and he saw all their feet as he gripped snow in-between his hands, feeling them burn. "I have to try to save her, I failed last time, and-and-" He fell forward slightly, his incompetence and his incompatible state hitting him the sternum. "And I won't let it happen again."

The area around them was quiet and he barely breathed, afraid of the crunching of snow around him and the harsh reality that he had failed.

Utterly failed.

The soothing feeling that overtook him was one that sent his contempt away and replaced it with hope. Minimal as it was it glowed and thrived and sought to grow larger.

"This is a one time thing, so don't expect more." Those words were all he needed to hear, and a hand on his shoulder caused him to look up, meeting the face of Hidan surprised him.

"Hold onto your ass Uchiha, for this might hurt just a bit." Hidan laughed as his skin turned stark black with white highlights, and suddenly the background next to Hidan's head changed immediately and he knew that they'd been transported. Instead of a slightly rainy background, he saw one with smoke in its stead.

He turned away and emptied his stomach acids onto the familiar forest floor next to him. He heard similar sounds come from around to him and from above he heard Hidan laugh.

"Ah, Jashin owed me one anyway." he laughed but it came to a sudden stop as he turned to walk away. "Your body will be fine for three hours minimum, so you owe me big time Uchiha-bastard."

"Oh shit." Itachi looked up and suddenly he felt like throwing up again.

Flames, and screams, and a ruined mountain that reminded him that this village was not the one he'd left all those years ago.

People went rushing past them, but excited calls of 'Tsunade-Sama!' Had them stopping. Itachi didn't stop, he flew forward, his strength regained thanks to Hidan and Tsunade, and he fell into that village, thoughts of his misguided love pushing him forward.

* * *

She could feel him. He was here, and he was angry. Power and hatred radiating from him, from where she was, and it pulsated and resonated with her own blood. Death was on her lips and she follwed, knowing that this is where she was supposed to be. Watching as purple enveloped a boy that she had once loved, and blood dripping from eyes that were both a blessing and a curse.

This, she thought, is where I shall die.

No bother, and she jumped closer, hiding, because she wanted to kill that bastard right now, and she was so close, so absolutely close to the redemption that had been calling to her. His yukata was ripped and she saw the face of a man, discolored and clearly a source of power.

"Sasuke! His arm! Look at his arm!" A voice screamed, and she knew that she wanted to kill, blood looked so good on Danzo, so just wonderful and fuck this was it. Anticipation flushed through her, white and hot and she drew from her back, she shushined and she could've sworn she was falling. One second away and she hit dirt, but he had been right in front of her! Whisps pulled right from behind her and she shot forward, away from his hands, and she threw her sword back, hoping and hitting something. She charged right after, rage building as Danzo scowled at her.

"You!" He spoke heatedly "You meddling little girl!" She glared and the hatred flared under her skin, bubbling and wishing to come to the surface. "How are you still alive!?" He screamed and she shot forward, uncaring for his mindless words, they only infuriated her more, and she ignored Sasuke's presence altogether.

Danzo shot away and she smirked, looking at the familiar design of a tag that stood out next to him. "Wind Style-!" Chocked sounds and a scream.

"SHANARRO!" Rage and pent up frustration sent Danzo breaking through concrete and his arm spazzing. His flesh molded and began to move until it completely detached from his body, Sakura ran forward, her last weapon drawn and a whisper of death on her lips. Dark eyes flashed in her mind, and she knew that this was the end. Of everything.

Does it even matter?

"Please," That wasn't her voice. She opened her eyes and found her sword lodged in Danzo's shoulder, right above his heart, but that wasn't what made her tears well. Because she had finally done it. She had won, but...

"Don't do this anymore, love."

Dark eyes and pale skin.

No

"No..." A deaf whisper and it carried to him as Danzo hit the ground with a thud that was dull to their ears. This was a lie, her life was a lie, a long scary line of lies.

Hands, those hands, worked years beyond what any person should, reached for her, and they were so real. So real, and they weren't a dream, or a nightmare. And in her moment of weakness, she fell, and she fell hard, into those arms, those awaiting arms that would always catch her when she fell. Tears welled and her throat clenched painfully, words dead, but answers left unchecked.

"H-how..." she sobbed as she fell, her knees uncomfortably digging into Danzo's back, and his hands smoothing out her hair, and his face buried in her neck, and it felt so right and real and fuck this, please let this be real, for if it wasn't she had been killed and she had made it to him, and she was fine with that too. But he wasn't gone, and she had him and she was confused, but at this point even if she were in hell, she wouldn't care, because he was here with her.

"It doesn't matter," The crackling behind her was left unchecked and she grabbed him, groping and squeezing because god! He was here! He was alive! Her heart swelled and beat with fervor, and tears streamed down at a constant rate.

"I'm here now," She cried harder because yes, he was here, and she had won, she had avenged her love that wasn't dead.

"And-"

"I know!" She said and she smiled, so bright, and beautiful, and only for him. "Just please!" She laughed a sound that he hadn't heard in too long. "Fucking kiss me damnit, because I've missed you so much and I love you so-"

"Be quiet Sakura." And if her name falling from those lips wasn't the sweetest sound, she didn't know what was.

Heated, passionate, impatient lips met and it was sweet, gentle and tears gathered in Itachi's eyes, because he wasn't too late, he was here, and he had made it. He saved them both, and a future rested in his hands, because he held her right now, and she tasted just like she had before, of life and beauty and everything that he loved.

It was them against the world, and as their lips caressed each other they knew, that they had won, and they could take anything.

As long as they were together.

* * *

 ** _OMG, I hate myself so much right now. This chapter is the absolute worst. The fight scene was awful and wildly underrated and just so bad. And so was the reunion, like holy shit I think my mind just threw up. This is so bad and NO THIS IS NOT THE ENDING if I had an ending that bad to a story I was this proud of I might go jump off a bridge. This is so bad and I won't be offended If I don't get any reviews._**

 ** _I hope you at least enjoyed it, I know I didn't._**

 ** _-lovesnaruto7_**


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